Lost memories and lose ends
by Ranekaera
Summary: AU, Severus finds himself in the middle of his house, his mom is dead, his father is home, he doesn't remember everything... something is up. Sequel to Forgiveness and undying love. Please review! CHAPTER UPDATE, CHAPTER 14 UP!
1. What the hell?

Hey, I'm working on the sequel and the prequel, because I'm pretty sure that after reading the first one, there isn;t a lot to write about the prequel... anyway, please enjoy this! and dont read unless you've read forgiveness and undying love!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus found himself at his home in Spinners End, and didn't understand how he had come to be there. TYhe last thing he remembered, was seeing Lilyu laying on some sort of bed... but any harder thought brought only more haze. He felt Confunded, and, for some reason, ancious and miserable. For some other unknown reason, he expected his hair to be longer. Why on earth would that be? He also felt as if there was something he needed to do... he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

His father came out of the kitchen and saw him standing there, dumbstruckand unser where he as, and hollered at him, holding an apple.

"What'sa matter, boy? Simple?"

Severus jumped, and looked at this father in shock.

His mother... where was his mother?

Rushing thoughts of a grave and orange whirled through his confused brain, and he suddenly felt afraid. What had happened to him? Why did it feel like someone had inexpertly Obliviated him? Or _had_ someone? Why couldn't he remember who?

"What d'you mean, where is she? She's dead, i'nt she?" grunted Tobias, and Severus's jaw dropped, as he remembered everything... but hadn't there been someone else involved? He was very sure there had... someone with ... but it wasn't coming to him, try as he might.

"Where is she?" he asked quietly.

"Stairs," he grunted again, and Severus ran up to his bedroom.

There on his bed lay his mother, a dried stream of blood still upon her mouth.

"What the-?" he muttered, searching the room with his eyes. Why did it feel suddenly as if he hadn't stepped foot here in years? This was absurd, he had to get some air, needed to breath...

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Sorry for the abrupt end, abviously Severus remembers bits and pieces, everything, it seems, except Lily. It may or may not change, depending on how many reviews I get... Any way, my mom wanted to computer, so I had to end it there. I'll update soon.


	2. Lonely funeral

This should be very interesting, as you read the other side of events, what really happened without Lily. With Lily there, and now, without her there. Severus is a lot more lonely now. Please review!!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus still didn't know how it all came to be. He did notice two thin gold rings on the ring finger of his left hand and wondered wildly how they came to be there. He took them off, examined them, cast revealing spells on them, but the only thing he found was an inscription as vague as the reason they were there; the letters L and E with a heart bearing his initials. What did it all mean?

The day of his mother;s funeral wwas stormy, and he found an orange skirt in a bag in his rooom, but didn't remember how it had gotten there.

He pounded the edge of the casket she was to be buried in angrily at the frustration of not being able to remember! Why couldn't he? Did his dream have anything to do with it?

Last night, he had had a dream, very real, that he had proposed to Lily Evans, but that was preposterous. He remembered again the initials inscribed on one of his rings and snorted again; it was still absurd. Why would they get married? She had made it very clear the day she had refused to forgive him for losing his head and calling her a mudblood that she wanted nothing more to do with him.

They buried his mother but no one except the grave diggers, the preast and his father attended; it was a very subdued affair. Mid way through, his father was arrested by the muggle law enforcements on suspicion of his mother's supposed death. Severus never saw him again, obviously, but he wasn't sorry.

As he watched the muggles put his mother's coffin into the grave, he wondered who was paying for it. Probably the city. He certainly couldn't afford it.

That evening, once he got home, all alone, he began cleearing out anything and everything belonging to his father, and he burned it in the back yard. Everything of his mother's stayed where it was.

He pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and sat at the kitchen table, preparing to write a letter to his headmaster, asking him if he knew what his mysterious symptoms meant. If anyone would know, it was the second most powerful wizard in the world. He wasn't sure if he wanted to join Voldemort just yet.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

_I woke up in my living room, fully clothed and standing, and I have no idea how I came to be there. I don't remember what I did yesterday. For some reason, I have two gold rings that were on the left hand, and I don't know what those mean either. My memories are confused and swirled together and it's driving me mad. I don't know what's happening to me! I need your help, please, sir._

_Sincerely,_

_Severus Snape._

That looked alright, he thought, setting down his quill and rolling up the note. He walked outside and made a shrill whistling noise at the roof of the house where he knew for a fact several bats took roost every night. He could hear them at night when he tried sleeping, squeaking and chirping.

One of them flew down, alarmed, and Severus held out one arm, willing it to come to him. It did, hanging upside down from the sleeve of his robes.

"I need one of you to take this to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it's for Professor Dumbledore," he said quietly, feeling foolish talking to a wild bat. It snatched the small, rolled up note in it's clawed feet and took off into the night, chirping. Severus sighed and leaned against the side of the house, watching it as it flew off, until it was nothing more than a speck in the approaching night.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

He still couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety and something else, like he'd forgotten something important. He shifted his shoulders uncomfortably and glanced at the clock; it was approaching 9.

He headed for the rec room, not often used except by his father, and sat down in the overstuffed chair in front of the tv. He turned it on with a flick of his wand and sighed, resigning himself to the boredom even though he still had no idea what the anxious feeling was.

Thirty minutes later brought a tap on the window, and with a shock of surprise, he saw it was the large bat he'd sent Dumbledore's letter with.

He opened the window and took the letter from the bat. He let it inside and gave it some bread crumbs and a few gulps of water as a reward and unfurled his letter from Dumbledore.

_Dear Severus,_

_The story I have to tell must wait, and I do know what it is, although I cannot revel much to you, at least until after you graduate from Hogwarts. I am terribly sorry, but it appears you have reacted to a poorly performed Obliviate Curse. You must find out what the clues mean on your own, I'm afraid. I heard about your mother, and I am terrribly sorry for your loss. Please accept my condolences and enjoy the rest of your summer. I expect to see you back next term!_

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Dumbledore_

He crumpled the note and tossed it into the fireplace, more confused than ever. How did Dumbledore know? _What_ story? All _what_ at the moment?

He kicked the chair angrily and sat back down, brooding.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Please review!!


	3. Sev's final year and an old man explains

This one is really fastforwarded, and it is revealed why Lily took the children before she Obliviated Snape in St. Mungo's. People keep reviewing me, asking why she had to be so mean to him, and I keep trying to explain that she did it for a reason, so I had to come up with a chapter to explain... Please understand, it's a complicated plot, and all is not explained until you read both the prequel and the sequel, and I promise that by the time I'm done with said last titles, you will understand it all :)

Enjoy

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus's odd dreams continued to plague him, so that he was forced to use Occlumency before he slept every night so he could get a decent night's sleep. For some reason of late, he had been dreaming of children, black haired and pale. He had no idea where these caem from and hehad a funny idea he should know. He didn't know any children that young.

The dawning of the end of his final year was closer. It seemed like the years seemed to melt by without Lily to share them with. In Slytherin, he only had one friend, and he didn't like him all that much. Mulciber. He kept trying to cheeat off all Severus's test papers and he had taken to using invisible ink visible only to him until he was ready to hand his papers in.

He continued to plague Dumbledore with questions,but the old man was resolutely saying nothing.

The day before he was to graduate and become a fully qualified wizard, Dumbledore summoned him to his office for, possibly, the last time.

"Please, sit," he invited him, and he offered him a lemon drop. Dumbledore and h is bloody lemon drops...

"What was it you wanted to see me about, sir," he said quietly.

Dumbledore reached into a drawer in his desk and removed several photos and sheaves of old parchment papers. Severus recognized the girlish handwriting at once as Lily's.

"It is time to remind you of what you have forgotten. Remember, it should never have happened at all, but what was done was done, and you must know, for it concerns you most deeply," he began, and he handed the pictures over. They were all moving photographs of he and Lily, and three tiny babies, two with black hair and one with a brilliant shock of red.

He sifted through them, seeing and registering, but not understanding until he came to the very last one. It was a photo of himself in a muggle tuxedo, looking a little older and arm in arm with Lily in a white satin dress and veil, and he understood now why the memory charm was so inexpertise. Lily had Obliviated him, and the children, they must be hers... but who was the father? And what time were these taken in anyway? Some of the pictures of him looked much too old...

He was afraid the pictures raised more questions than they answered.

"What time frame were these taken in, sir? Who is the father of these children?" he asked, pointing to one of only four pictures of the children.

"Lily refused to forgive you for the use of the word mudblood and she eventually goes on to marry James Potter, and I must warn you to keep this secret. You cannot let either one of them know," warned Dumbldore sternly.

"I won't," he promised bitterly. It figured.

"You are the father of those children. Lily steals a Time Turner from the Ministry of Magic when she discovers the Dark Lord is after her and her family and goes back in time, right around now, to forgive you and see where it took her. She was lost and frightened and guilty about what she did to you that day," Dumbledore explained.

Severus sat there stonily, looking again at the pictures of the three children. Now that he looked closer, one of them had his nose, and another had the same shaped eyes as his. The girl looked almost exactly like Lily.

The pictures slid to the floor as his fingers becamne slack and he took the sheaves of parchment Dumbledore had passed to him with the pictures. They were some of Lily's journal entries, but even though the one he could see was dated for 1979, they looked old and yellowed with age. But how could that be?

"I recovered these from one of the children in those pictures. Apparently, before she left them with the orphanages, she also left them with bits and pieces of her life and reasons why she did what she did, and it is from these that I know so much," he said, and Severus took one of them and read it through.

_September 30, 1988_

_Dear Diary,_

_My pregnancy is going fine, but this is the third week my powers have left me entirely... I wonder if this is normal... Seveus is surprisingly good with his hands and he's outside right now tending to the back porch. We got a pretty good deal on this house, but it still needs a bit of work._

Pregnancy... he didn't believe it. Lily had gone back in time, forgiven him, married him, and had children with him... for eight years! Eight years she had wiped from his memory, no wonder he was messed up! He read through a few more, out of curiosity.

_October 20, 1988_

_The Healers at St. Mungo's say I should be due before or on Halloween, and I fear for what I know I have to do. I love Severus with all my heart, and I want so much to live with him forever and watch our children grow up... but sometimes I think about Harry and James and wonder. The most evil wizard of all time is still at large and he's killing worse than ever, and I think, because of what happened that night on Halloween 7 years ago, that my son Harry has to be the one to kill him for good. I don't want to leave Severus... but I know I must, and I must erase his memories... it would hurt him more if I let him remember... the least I can do is take the children with me when they are born and allow others to raise them. If I go back to my death at Godric's Hollow, I'll leave my soon-to-be-born children erased, like they never existed, and they will be the one thing to remind me of the happy times I have spent with Severus... I can't let that go. I know he would never understand if I told him._

Severus finished reading it, a grim sort of determination about him. Not only did the entry explain a lot, but it also gave him the place, time and date the Dark Lord would approach the Potter household to kill them all. He musn't let that information mislead him, though.

"I understand..." he muttered, although it was all still being processed in his brain. He was a father to children that were born eight years in the future that, as of now, existed outside a time line of their own. The Lily that would go back in time and have them would not arise until the year 1988, according th the entry. So did versions of himself and Lily keep going back and forth through time, leapfrogging, so to speak, so they could be together?

"Where are they," he asked, motioning to the children.

"One of them is in the United States, near Russia, a state called Alaska. You will find the daughter in Sterling. Her name is Sairsha. You will find the eldest and first born in western California, in a foster home of sorts near a harbor. The other son you will find in the north eastern coast of the U.S., in a small town called Augusta, where, incidentally, you and Lily spend your honeymoon together when she goes back in time," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling.

"What must I do?" he asked stiffly, folding all the journal entries and stuffing them into an inside pocket of his robes. He put the pictures into another pocket, close to his heart.

"You must find them and bring them together. They need guidance of a desperate sort that only their father can give them," said Dumbledore simply.

Severus stared at the man as if he had grown a second head.

It was a task easier said than done.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Well, what do you think? Did it explain some things? I wasn't trying to make Lily evil, she was just doing what she felt she had to do, and Sev gets to be with his kids at last... of course, at the moment, they're only babies... Sev's going to have fun, hahahah Please reveiw!


	4. The quest begins

Hey, this takes place after Sev gets out of Hogwarts, and he goes home to pack and prepare...

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus loved being able to Apparate. The moment he got into Hogsmeade, and turned on the spot with his school trunk and Apparated right into his bedroom in Spinner's End.

It was over. Some dim part of his mind registered the fact that if he wanted to, it was for good. He didn't think he'd want that, though. He looked around his bedroom; he wanted to go back to Hogwarts to teach, but first he had to find his children. The word still sounded foreign to him. He found it hard to believe he had children at eighteen. Vaguely, he wondered how old they were if they were born in the future and brought back to live in the past.

He took out the photographs again and sat on the edge of his bed, examining them. The first born son was asleep in his photo, his fat little fists curled beneath him, his shock of icy black hair falling in his face. Severus reached under his bed, his lanky, skinny form bending chest to legs, and he pulled out a thin, tatty looking photo album he hardly ever looked at anymore.

He opened it to one of the first pages and saw one of his own baby pictures. Her had jet black hair and black eyes and a chubby pink body swathed in a diaper and a little blue shirt. He didn't look much like the boy in the other photo. He next compared the picture of the second son and thought they looked somewhat more alike. The girl looked nothing like either of her brothers or her father. She was the spitting image of her mother Lily.

He shoved the ournal entries and the baby photos hastily into the back of the album and stowed it on his bed for the moment.

He emptied out his school bag and trunk and began stuffing clean clothes into hios bag, along with the album, some basic hygeine products, a brush, underwear, robes and one of his mother's old charm bracelets, for good luck. It reminded him of her. He also crammed his cauldron in there, with all manner of potion ingredients, and certain food spices in case he had to cook on the journey. No one would ever guess it, but he was actually a pretty good cook.

He headed downstairs, bounding over the last three and landing on the carpet below. He headed into the rec room and began searching for the spare umbrella and raincoats and rubber boots, in case of rain. He put an Extendable Extension charm on his back pack, and he crammed said rain equipment into it along with everything else.

"Gloves... I bwet it's cold in Alaska..." he muttered to no one. He fished a pair of his mother;s out of the hall closet, then remembered California. It was bound to be hot as balls.

He hated the very thought of it, but he found a few of his father;'s old under shirts, that were actually white tank tops, and stuffed them in, too. He refused to wear anything but pants no matter how hot it got.

He was ready, except for one thing. He wanted to send a note to Lily.

He pulled a piece of parchment to him and began to write.

_Dear Lily,_

_I know you may not want to read this, and I will understand if you burn this after you read it. First of all, I want to wish you luck with James Potter. I regret calling ou that... name and I hate myself every day, I know I have lost you for good._

_Dumbledore has entrusted me with a very important mission on which I must go. It will take me far, far out of the country, possibly to the western shores of the United States. I go in search of those who you stole from both of us and gave away out of love and good will. I know you know what I am talking about, and rest assured, your secret is safe with me._

_Even from Potter._

_Love always from_

_Severus_

He rolled it up, doublechecked some places to make sure he hadn;t forgotten anything, grabbed what money he had and left the house for what would be the last time for a long time.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus went directly to Lily's house and slipped the letter he had written through the mail slot, a red ribbon binding it, and her name written on the edge.

He then went directly to Diagon alley and bought a cheap broom stick for long journeys, a new, thick winter cloak he could scarcely afford and blew the very last of his money on food supplies for him to duplicate and transfigure later.

"Traveling?" asked one of the store clerks. He nodded mutely and cast a Disillusionment charm on himself, and his new broom. He mounted it and kicked off hard, rising up into the air and soon, over all of London.

The wind whipped his long hair around and he accidentally ate a piece of it. He spat it out and searched for the edge of the city. He saw water to his left and he headed for it, the small compass on his broom handle telling him he ws heading East. It was the way he needed to go.

He changed course for the coast line and began his journey over the ocean, the sun beating down on him relentlessly, quickly turning hsi long black hair hot and causing sweat to run in rivulets down his entire body.

He spotted a small crop of land and prepared to make a brief landing under cover of the few bushes that were there.

He stowed his broomstick in his backpack and brought out a small pan and a single article of food he had bought in London. It was fish. He set a fire with his wand and set the fish in the pot, the smell of aking salmon quickly smoking around him. It smelled delicious. He fished a few slices of lemon out of his cauldron and added them to the pot and took the lot off the fire. He lounged back against one of the thick, prickly bushes and began eating, using his hands because he'd neglected to bring silverware. It was very good, and he wrapped the remaining half of it in a wrapper he conjured from his wand and stowed it back inside the bag he kept the food in, and he placed the lot of everything in his school bag.

He bent over the edge of the small rock and washed his hands off, noting that the Disillusionment charm he had placed was still working well.

He shouldered his pack again, fixed his cloak more firmly around his shoulders, and mounted his broom once more.

There was nothing before him except the vast expanse of ocean. He had the feeling he was going to get bored, fast.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I hope you enjoyed it!! Please review, and give me suggestions as to what I should include next chapter, besides "he flew over the ocean and it was blue and it took a long time..."

Please review!!


	5. ARK!

Hey, this is just a bit of humor I'm throwing in, and could I get some suggestions as to how to write the rest of the journey overseas? Cause right now, all I can think of is "it was blue, it was boring and took a really long time..." I'm desperate!

Enjoy!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus was bored.

If wasn't supposed to be looking where he was steering, he would have charmed a book to stand open next to him so he could read while he flew, but that wasn't really an option. Instead, he tried not to fall asleep.

He was starting to see icebergs now. He wondered vaguely what state he would be closer to first, Maine of some other east coast state. He had never been out of his own country, and he had no idea what the States would be like.

Very soon after he started seeing icebergs, he started flying into focks of seagulls. Dratted birds. One of them attacked his back pack and he had to go into a loop-the-loop just to avoid the blasted thing. He also started to get very very cold, and his eyes were watering... if he could just find a place to touch down, just for a moment and rest...

He thought there was nothing else for it, so he flew down and landed on a medium-sized iceberg. Ahead of him, in the distance were a small family of seals, and he purposely tried avoiding them.

He slided his way over to a large bump in the ice and, after conjuring a comfortable chair from nowhere, he settled himself down in it. There was, of course, a cushioning charm placed on all broomsticks, but even so, his behind ached from all the incessant flying.

He shivered violently and felt his face; stone cold. His hands had long since gone numb, so he also conjured a bright, scarlet fire with his wand, and, trusting that it wouldn't melt the ice too fast, he got near to it and tried warming up.

"Ahhhhh... ruddy ice...I knew there was a reason I hated flying..." he muttered to the air.

"Ark?"

"What the-?" he jumped back, nearly dumping his chair into the ocean, and stared.

A seal pup had come over to him to investigate the strange, fiery light. Up close, Severus couldn't help but think it cute. It had large, dark eyes, sleek, flulffy fure and a streamlined, jet body with flippers. It's whiskers were in danger of getting singed, so he set up a gentle shield charm on that side of the fire.

"Ark, ark?" the seal barked again. 

Curious despite himself, he held a hand out to the pup, and it sniffed it curiously, and bounced forward a bit. It touched his outstretched fingers with it's small, wet nose and barked again., giving his fingers a little nibble with its gums.

"Ark!" there came another bark, and this wwas from a much, much bigger seal. It looked odd; it had sharp teeth and its fur was spotted... before he could think of much of anything else on the matter, it lunged at him, taking a bit out of the chair!

"What the hell?" he yelled, and the seal pup barked happily, clapping its flippers together. Severus was glad one of them was enjoying himself.

"Ark, ark!" barked the adult seal, and it started chasing him around the bloody berg!

Severus ran in circles, hoping to exhaust the fat seal, but it was almost an hour by his count before it finally let up.

Sweating, panting and more achy than ever, he settled himself into his bitten chair and slumped, loving the warmth of his fire and preparing one of his few meals.

"Ark?" it was the seal pup again, but this time, Severus knew better. He wwasn't touching the bloody thing.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Please review to my question! And I already thought of somethihng... his kids are going to be toddlers, two or three years old, with limited vocabulary.


	6. Less than a cheerful arrival

Hey, this will probably be one of the last chapters I do for this for a while. I'm busy at the moment and it may be awhile before I can get the chance, but don't worry, I will finish it!

As for whoever reviewed me complaining that he found it hard to believe Lily would abandon James and Harry out of curiosity, please let it be known that this is my story and I'm writing it and I'll make Lily however I want. Alright, I've ranted. I feel better now. Read on!

Please review and enjoy!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

It was a long, boring, tedious journey. By the time he spotted land, it had been another three days and he was so eager and overjoyed to touch down, he began diving before he was within twenty feet. Unfortunately, it was an island of sorts. He just needed to get out of the trees!!

He walked through the forest, which was spring green and very leafy, twigs slapping at his calves, branches pulling at his hair. He beat them all back and came out onto an empty paved road. A chill wind whistled through the trees and somewhere in the distance, a bird was singing. He heard ocean waves and decided to try in that direction.

Carrying his broomstick, he parted the trees and saw he was up on some sort of earthy cliff of dirt and grass. Below him was a small cove filled with irridecent purple seashells and giant boulders. Beyond it was the ocean and even further in the distance, was a ferry. It was a perfect view, in his opinion.

He floated down on his broom and landed softly on the shells below. He bent and picked one up, a small chip the size of his thumbnail that had a mother-of-pearl sheen to its dusky purple color. He pocketed it, although he did not know why.

He had set out from school to find his children, victims of a misguided time travel. He was here now for the first time in another country and damned if he wasn't going to treat it like a fresh start. He would be a fool not to.

He began walking towards the water's edge, the skmall waves making white foam. He bent down and stuck a finger in; even in the middle of June, it was very very cold. He wondered what part of the country he had landed in.

Looking round, he found a sign up on a wooden post and, curious, he walked over to it to see what it said, or even what it was doing there. He supposed the island he landed on was some sort of tourist attraction.

"Hmm. Rockland Cove... Must be the name of this cove," he muttered to himself, giving the sign a calculating look as he read on. Apparently the name of the island was Islesboro and it was just off the coast of a town named Rockland. There was a ferry he could take but he had no idea what time it would next be there. No matter. He could just Apparate or fly.

Focusing on the shore on the opposite side, he Apparated over wirth a loud CRACK and breathed in the salty air again. He had never been so close to the coast line and the salt air smelled wonderful.

The first thing he noticed was that he was surrounded on all sides by either thick furry pine trees or endless stretches of paved roads. There was a wide dock and a berth for the ferry, but that was all. The place was utterly deserted.

Placing another Disillusionment charm on himself, he mounted his broom once again and rose into the air, just above the treeline. He regretted doing so once he saw the end of the pine trees. The landscape looked beautiful. He flew over a small brook, skinny trees with the most beautiful lazing summer colors. Flying over a small clearing with a for sale sign, he saw a few deer, bigger than the ones in England.

As he approached the main part of the town, he spotted what he had been looking for. Food.

He touched down behind a giant smelly dumpster, lifted the charm, stashed his broomstick on the ground behind a tuft of overgrown grass, and hoping no one would mistake it for trash, he walked into the food store.

It was air conditioned and he shivered. It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to. Back t his home in Spinner's End, the AC had been off for quite awhile.

He had no muggle money, but he was sure if he could spot another wizard somewhere, he could exchange it. However, he had not yet met an American wizard.

He walked the isles until he found a man with red hair and a set of rather simple robes, looking at differently cut meats.

"Excuse me, sir, but are you a wizard?" he asked in an undertone. The man looked around at him and Severus saw he had milky white eyes. He was blind.

"Mayhaps I am. Who are you?" he said, just as quietly, so they didn't alert the muggles around them.

"My name's Severus Snape, I'm a wizard from Britain and I justy got here... the problem is, I have no muggle money. Do you know where I could change mine?" he asked.

The man reached into an inner pocket and pulled out several rumpled paper bills that looked limp and soggy and a few silver coins that looked nothing like sickles.

"You can change it with me, if you like. These muggles are so bothersome with money. Just gimme five galleons and you can have this, but carefull how much you spend," warned the wizard. His accent was lazy and slurred. Severus wondered if he was drunk or if that was just how Americans talked.

"Thank you. By the way, where am I? What state is this?" he asked, pulling out five galleons and taking the paper muggle money, colored a dull gray green.

"This is Rockland, Maine. Where are you trying to get to?" asked the man.

He remembered where Dumbledore told him to look.

"Nowhere, I'm in the right place. Thank you," he told the man, and they parted ways. Severus decided some tarts were in order, but all he could find were some luridly colored frosted stuff called "pop-tarts". Groaning because he was pretty sure this stuff wasn't good for him, he decided to screw it. He was hungry and was running out of the food he had brought with him from home. All he wanted was a hot meal and someplace warm to sleep.

He paid for the pop tarts and went back outside to collect his broom. He was almost there when he heard a horrendous clanking noise and looked up. A huge truck was picking the dumpster up and dumping the rubbish inside the back part of it.

Worried for his broom, he ran up to its hiding place just in time before a young man in dirty coveralls got to it first.

"That's mine!" he cried, pointing wildly to it. The man was startled by his appearancea and Severus grabbed the broomstick from him.

"Whatever, wierdo," the man mutterd, and Severus could tell he was a muggle by the way he took in his clothes.

Struck by a sudden desire to sleep and rest, he blurted out, "where can I find someplace to eat and sleep?"

The man looked at him a moment, then pointed up the road a bit.

"There's a Holiday Inn right up the road, if you got money, mister. Good luck," said the muggle, and he laughed maliciously.

He ignored the stupid muggle and started walking in the direction he had been pointed. It was very unnerving to walk along the side of a road with cars zooming by him at impossible speeds. Every time one went by, he was enveloped in smelly exhaust fumes and his hair and robes were ripped around by the breeze.

He passed a truly nightmarish place called McDonalds, several used car l ots and numerous dilapidated mobile homes before he saw a huge lit up sign that said Holiday Inn ahead. He put his head down and refused to look at anything else except his feet until he neared the sign.

He made his way up to the front doors and waited for two elderly people to walk through first before following them. He felt very odd in this muggle place, and he missed the Leaky Cauldron terribly.

"How much is it for one room?" he asked the lady behind the desk. She wore an ugly square hat and looked at him oddly as she typed into a muggle thing called a computer.

"$200 a night," she said briskly. Severus counted the numbers on the bills the wizard from the supermarket gave him. They added up to 30. He didn't know much about muggle money, but he could count, and he knew he didn't have enough.

"Is there anythign cheaper?" he demanded dirritably.

"No."

He sauntered out, his pack on his back, his feet aching horribly although he had flown here for the most part. He didn't see why he hadn't just Apparated all th way here, but Apparating between countries was tiring and could go horribly wrong over such long distances.

He stood on the side of the road, taking it all in, and looked up at the sky, exhausted both physically and mentally. If he could only find someplace for wizards...

As if to answer his thoughtsd, a darker building further ahead caught his eye. He squinted to make out the words. "The Bloody Boar Inn".

He walked over to it and watched the muggles driving by to make sure they couldn't see it. When none did, or mayeb it was just wishful thinking because they were concetrating on driving, he walked into the dingy looking Inn and saw at once that this was a wizarding inn. There was no fireplace.

"I help you?" asked a thick set man in enormous blue robes at the door. He had a tattood face and a scowling look and gave off the air of a bouncer.

"Just looking for a room," he snapped, and he strode up to the bar and got the attention of the young woman who was working it. She had long, thick, dark red hair and when she turned to look at him, he saw she had soft brown eyes.

"What'll it be?" she asked waspishly. Clearly, her voice betrayed her gentle looks. She sounded irritated.

"Is there a room avaiilable? I've just come all the way from England and I'm tired," he said in his most dangerous voice, as if daring her to refuse him. He would have a warm bed tonight, no excuses.

"British, huh? Yeah, we got a room, but it's cheap," she sneered, wiping a glass.

"I don't care, I'll take it," he said, and he handed over what wizarding money he had left. He would have to either change what muggle money he had or work someplace magical for more. He didn't have much in his bank at Gringotts back in England and the little he did have, he would like to save.

"Fine, that'll do. Here's the key, room 10 upstairs," she said, swiping the money off the counter with a practiced hand and thrusting a key at him. He took it and slided over to the staircase, looking forward to sleeping on a warm bed rather than hard ground, or ice or dirt. He also needed a shower, and he hoped there was one.

The narow hallwway was carpeted in dirty blue carpeting and had plain, rather drab wood walls, and he quickly found room 10.

He unlocked it and let himself inside.

It was nothing impressive. The bed was a single, with no curtains and no head boards. The bedding was clean, but clearly old, and the floor creaked a lot. There was a single, tiny bathroom, but he was glad for it all the same.

He dumped his bag on the bed, grabbed a pair of underwear (shorts) from it, and some shampoo, and made his way to the shower.

The bathrooom was grungy, but useable. He turned the hot water on, and began to undress, stripping his filty robes and piling them on the floor. He lookeat himself in the mirror. He looked tired, dark blue shadows under his dark eyes, and he was paler as well, his collarbone showing even more than usual. No one would ever guess, but he had a light dusting of freckles across them. It wasn't something he would ever admit either.

He climbed into the shower, washed his hair, scrubbed some excess soap on his body and got out.

After pulling on his shorts and running the brush through his hair a few times, he dumped his bag on the floor, mindfull of the potion vials inside, threw back the coveres and fell onto the pillows. He was asleep almost instantly.

Tomorow, he would begin looking for his son.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Please review, and sorry for the wait!!!!


	7. Adoptive services and Shannen

Hey, Next chapter, people.

I did no research what so ever on this story. I lived in Maine for 13 years and I know it pretty well.I know quite a lot about the adoptive services and foster care in the state of Maine from growing up in that environment myself, and I have to say it isn't fun, but I got one good thing out of it; the knowledge of how to write this chapter!! SQUEE!! Enjoy!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus awoke the next morning to a grumpy sounding voice from behind his door.

"Room service!"

He groaned and sat up, squinting at the bright sunlight filtering through the grimy windows of the place. He must have slept very late.

"Hold your knickers on, woman," he grumbled, pulling on a clean robe from his pack and opening the door for the cleaning woman.

She was really ugly, with dimples enough to fill the craters on the moon and empty, brainless blue eyes, her blonde hair limp and greasy. She wore a simple dress and an apron and was carting around a sort of trolley filled with cleaning supplies he'd never heard of.

"Cleaning lady," she grumbled sourly, and she pushed rudely past him without even asking and began to cleean, her dusting rag moving of its own accord.

"Sure, you can come in," he said sarcastically, but quietly so she couldn't hear. He grabbed his things and headed downstairs, his broom in hand. He used a spell to shrink it and stuffed it into his pack with the rest of his things and approached the counter.

The grumpy redhead was back.

"You know where I can find a muggle orphanage or a foster care place?" he asked loudly, so she would hear him over the din of a television set on the wall. This was a wizarding place, what was a TV doing in there?

"I've no idea. You could check that information place, it's across town," she said, slightly less grumpy sounding than she had been the night before.

"What street," he said coldly, glaring at her, giving her the most evil expression he could muster. He really hated being woken up and he didn't like mornings.

"I dunno, follow the road signs," she said, glaring right back.

As he left, he thought he could feel the eyes of the bouncers and everyone in the pub glaring holes in his back.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

He didn't know why he wanted to try to adoptive agencies. He supposed he just figured. He could assume his children were still... well, children. He guessed they would be in an adoptive agency. His problem, of course, was finding the place, and then managing to convice the muggles there that he was the father. He himself wasn't so sure of the fact, he'd only heard it from Dumbledore. He remembered almost nothing from his brief eight years with Lily Evans. He would have to use his wand.

He looked both ways before taking his broom out and casting the Disillusionment charm yet again.

He flew low over the street, just over the solid metal bars holding the streetlights up. He could still see the road signs very well, and he cared nothing for the ugly scenery of this suburban environment. He passed a lot of delapidated houses, yards with fencing and vicious animals barking at him.

He stopped still, hovering over an intersection called "Kissimee Avenue".  
(A/N: A town in Florida)

To his left was a plain brick building, with a large plastic sign out front saying "Visitor Information Center". He decided to go to it, thinking it was the building the woman at the pub had mentioned.

He flew over into the shadows, dismounted, lifted the spell on himself, shrunk his broom once more and walked inside.

He could tell at a glance that this was not the place.

He had walked into a sort of colled lobby, with several large pictures and posters of environmental warnigns and various wildlife, and there was a single counter, with donations and charities there. A single old man in a checked green hunting jacket and a cap with earflaps on was reading a catalogue there. He looked up as Severus entered.

"C'n I help you?" he asked, his accent even more lazy and slushy than the blind wizard he'd seen in the supermarket the previous day. He had learned by now, that this was the American accent. At least it seemed to be the dominant one in this part of the country, anyway.

"I'm looking for the nearest Adoption agency or Foster Care facility," he said softly, glancing for a moment at the world atlases on the desk. He took one down and read the cover. Apparently, it was a detailed Atlas of the country, and more specifically, the state he was in.

"Adoption Agency? Why there's one right down the road from here," he said, sounding surprised. When he said 'road', irt came out as "rud", and Severus made a mental note to try and get used to this strange accent. He could hardly understand this man at all!

"Great. Can I take one of these?" he asked, although he would have taken it either way. He needed a map, and he wasn't about to liase with a man he could hardly understand. He just thought it better manners to ask.

"Shore ya can," he said. Severus pocketed it and made a mental note to enchant it to direct him when he got outside.

He took out his wand and muttered the simple spell that would enable the Atlas to point him in the right direction. He said "Adoption Agency", and bright green lines traced a complicated web all over the state of Maine, with bright gold points marking the spots at where every Adoption Agency in the state was located. There indeed was one very near to where he was. His position on the map was marked by a single black dot.

He followed the street the Information Center was located on, noticing that the back streeeets of the town called Rockland was a pretty place, off the main road. The houses weren't the same identical model, the lawns were differently sized, the cars were different. He noticed with some amusement that the steering columns were on the other side of the cars and everyone drove on the wrong side of the street. This certainly was a backwards country.

He noticed a particularly large Victorian house and several children playing in the back yard, which was fenced in and there were a myriad of toys in bright, annoying plastic colors. He assumed this was the Adoption agency.

He crossed the lawn, then looked down at his clothhing. He frowned and wavfed his wand at himself. Instantly, his robes melted into a long sleeved black shirt with a closed throat and a pair of black trousers and black shoes. His robes had been folded up and he put these into his pack.

He opened the door and found himself in a sort of sitting area, with chairs and poufy cushions.

"Can I help you, sir?" asked a woman, and he jumped a mile. He hadn't noticed anyone coming in.

He looked and saw a woman standing there on the other side of a desk. Beyond her was what looked like the rest of the house, instead of an office as was usual. Three small children stared at him, and one giggled excitedly. Despite himself, he felt a pang of sadness in this place; all these children were homelss and unloved. He could only guess what went through all of their minds when someone walked through those doors.

He looked at the three children. One wore a sruffy jumper, another wore a pair of bright green shorts and a white tank top, and the other was very very young, perhaps two years old, with overlong black hair.

"Sir?" said the woman, watching him look at the k ids.

He shook himself and looked back at the woman. She probably thought he was a creep!

"Yes, I um... my name is Severus Snape. I believe my... er... girlfriend dropped a child off here a few years ago... black hair, green eyes? I wasn't aware and I'd like to get him back," he said nervously, glancing again at the three kids. At his words, the oldest looking one giggled and the other two shrieked with laughter.

"Amy, go take the others outside! Go on!" the woman kindly shooed them all out abck, and they took off running, laughing the entire way.

"Do you have birth certificates? Identification?" the woman asked, typing letters and numbers into the computer at her side. She was staring ardently at the screen, and she turned the monitor around so he could see. There was a list of pictures of different children. As she typed, a different piucture of each child popped up and enlarged itself. Finally, Severus spotted one that looked oddly familiar.

"There," he said, pointing. He pointed at a child with large, almond shaped gray eyes and black hair who was holding up a small garter snake and smiling toothlessly.

"It says here this boy was named Shannen James Evans Snape by his mother and was dropped off here by another woman who apparently adopted him from England somewhere... hang on a second," she said, more to herself than him.

"I have a baby picture," he said, and he used his wand out of the corner of his mouth to accio it from his bag. He caught all three of the kid's photos in his left hand and produced both pictures of both his sons. The woman took both of them, and frowned slightly.

"There are two children here. Do you know which is which?" she asked.

"He took them back and kept glancing from the pictures in his hand to the picture on the computer screen. Finally he decided on one, the picture of what Dumbledore had called his second born son. So Lily had named him Shannen?

"This one," he said, tapping the picture of the sleeping baby, and she typed a few more things into the computer screen and frowned again.

"It says here he's on his way here, from Augusta... apparently, something happened to the couple who tried adopting him and when they tried to take him back, there was no space... he won't be here until tonight. Would you like to wait? I can tell you're from out of town... maybe do some sight seeing?" she asked.

He sighed explosively and ran a hand through his hair nervously. It wasn't something he did often, but he felt the need for it now.

"How old is he?" he asked.

"Says here he's about two and a half. No one knows when his birthday is, so we don't know for sure," she replied, tapping the screen. He read it again. Next to his picture was information about him.

Name: Shannen James Evans Snape

DOB: Unknown

Birthplace: England

Age: approx. two

Hair: black

Eyes: green

"I think I'll wait here," he said, and he took one of the squishy seats and decided to look at magazines.

It was going to be a long wait.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

He ate lunch there at the Adoption Agency. The woman came out, five kids tagging along behind her, and she carried a small plastic tray of what looked like kid's food.

"Would you like something to eat?" she asked kindly. He looked up, his eyes itching with tiredness from reading for so long.l His behind had long since gone numb, and he felt the need to stand up and move around.

"Sure," he said, and he grudgingly took a few apple slices from the tray, as well as half of what looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. He hated peanut butter, but beggars couldn't be choosers. He took a bite.

"Thank you," he said mechanically, and there was a tingling as the doors opened from behind them. He heard a child sobbing and when he looked around, there was a uniformed official carrying a black haired boy by the hand. He was crying and clutching what looked like a dead snake.

That was how he met Shannen James Evans Snape. His second born son.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They all sat there in a seperate room behind the front counter. It resembled a conference room with no table. Instead there was a couch and a chair and several books and children's toys. Shannen sat on his pudgy bottom, playing with several toy cars, rambling happily to himself. His dead snake had been discarded and hopefully, forgotten. Severus sat on the couch across from the official looking Adoption lady, and she was uncommonly sharp.

"How old are you?" she asked. Severus decided to lie.

"21," he replied. In fact, he was eighteen.

"Date of birth?" she asked. He sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't going to use magic unless he absolutely had to.

"January 9, 1958," he said, remembering to make it two years earlier to account for the fake age he gave her.

"Are you married? Do you have an adequate source of income?" she demanded sharply, staring suspiciously at him.

He groaned, took out his wand, tapped the piece of paper she held on the cliboard, her eyes went out of focus, she stared at the paper again, and frowned slightly. He had cast a spell on the adoptions papers to forece her to believe he was true to his word he would take care of the boy. Immediately the ink dried, and she smiled and shook his hand. She reached down and took out a few sheaves of paper from her bag and slipped them into a plastic shopping bag.

"What are these?" he asked.

"Papers and belongings from his mother that she left with him. They're yours now. Please take care of him, Mr. Snape, he's been looking so long for a place to call home," she said affectionately, looking at the little boy playing on the floor. Severus was forcibly reminded of his own childhood, but there had been an abusive father in it instead of countless failed adoptions.

"I will," he said. He cleeared his throat and spoke to his son for the first time, trying his hand at being dad. He still wasn't sure.

"Um... Shannen?" he called to him. He spun his head around, his pink lips parted halfway in a smile, a toy car in hand.

"What!" he said childishly.

Severus couldn't help but smile.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Well, what did you think? Please review!!


	8. Daddy!

Hey, this one is kind of like Severus being uneasy about being a father, and it's gonna take some getting used to... hahahahahaha... thanks especially to Brenda-wood-sheil, (special kudos to Felonusangel), eklectic0204, Princess of lightning, Walks-with-wolves,SetTheTruthFree, Deatheaterknight, JoScmo666, Sylwithia and anyone else I've forgotten to mention, without you, my loyal readers and generous reviewers, these stories would be nothing. Thank you, and please keep reviewing

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus stood in the road, outside the Information center, holding Shannen's hand and carrying his bag on his back with everything in it. Due to the Extendable charm he'd put on it, he could cram anything in there and still have room for more; it was where he'd put Shannen's things, what things he had. He had already told him who he was. He just didn't think he should know he was wizard just yet. He thought back the last few moments, remembering...

_flashback to a few minutes earlier_

"Do you know who I am, Shannen?" Severus asked, kneeling so he was on a level with his son. He looked up at the older man with his large, gray green eyes and pink lips with wonder and curiosity, still holding his toy car.

"Goin' home?" he said cutely, sticking said car in his mouth. Severus refrained from sighing and gently pried the toy out of the boy's mouth.

"I'm your father... I'm going to be taking care of you from now on. Is that ok?" he said in his newfound speaking-to-kids voice. He thought it sounded out of character for him, but he resigned himself to it.

"Daddy! We goin home?" Shannen said smartly. Severus couldn't help but smile.

"In a while. First we have to find your brother and sister," he said grimly, and he took his son's hand and stood up.

_flashback ends_

Now he stood with his son, staring out at the intersection and the muggles in their smelly loud cars and he held his face up into the wind. It wasn't until he found his son that he realized just how long this was going to take and how much he would have to be put through. Thank god he was already toilet trained, he thought with the ghost of a smile.

"Come, Shannen. We're going to an Inn before we leave tomorrow," he said softly, and he walked more slowly to give the boy a chance to keep up with him. They walked down the street towards the Blooded Boar Inn, hand in hand, father and son.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Shannen refused to sleep alone.

"I'm scawed!!!" he cried, huge eyes tearing up. Unfortunately, the only room Severus managed to obtain was a single. Apparently, his muggle money was good here, as well. He marveled that the American wizarding system was so much more lenient than his own.

"Please, Shannen? Just for tonight?" he begged, motioning to the squashy purple sleeping bag he'd conjured out of nowhere with his wand while his son was in the bathroom. Amazingly he had not asked where it came from.

"No!! I'm scared!" he cried again, and he hugged his only toy to his chest; a rather scuffed, worn out teddy bear, limp from all the use it had been subjected to. Severus frowned, his heart aching for his son. Was he going to turn into a bleeding heart for a child?

He gave in.

"Yaay!" he cried, and he scrambled up onto the single bed and snuggled under the coveres, his thumb hooked securely in his mouth, teddy crushed to his chest.

Severus climbed in beside him, his body facing his son's back to make sure he didn't fall out, and he closed his eyes and slept.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

He was awoken by a piercing scream.

He snapped his eyes open immediately and looked around wildly for the source. Looking beside him, he saw his son thrashing around in his sleep, his face scrunched up, evidently in terror.

He took out his wand, said, "ennervate," and his son woke up immediately, eyes wide in fear, his entire little body drenched in sweat, breathing fast.

"Daddy!!" he sobbed and Severus felt him throw himself against his body, hugging him furiously and sobbing. He uneasily hugged him back, marveling at how fevered his skin felt through his thin cotton sweater and how much he was crying. He must have had a nightmare.

He left the bed for a moment, grabbed his bag, pulled his cauldron and ingredients out and began to make a Calming drought while hs son sat up on the bed, sobbing and wailing. He stored several bottles full in case he ever needed it again and got back up on the bed.

"Sssshhh, here drink this. It'll help calm you down," he said soothingly. Shannen took the small bottle and looked at him, as if for permission. Seerus helped him tip it into his mouth and almost immediately, he stopped crying.

Shannen pulled away from his father slightly and looked up at him, his face tear streaked, his eyes wide and watery. The red puffiness from sleep and crying so much made them look bright green and he was reminded forcibly of who Shannen's mother was.

"Mommy died," he sobbed, hiccuping slightly. He lay back down, facing his father, and he fell asleep clutching his father's robes. Severus set the used potion bottle on the floor beside his cauldron and school bag and settled himself in gently, so as not to disturb the boy.

Had he known when Lily died? Did he know enough about his mother to know the exact moment she died? She didn't have Harry for nearly two years from this point. How could he dream about something that was going to happen in the future? He ought to have asked him, then decided it wouldn't have been a good idea. It would just have upset him even more.

He lay beside him and let him snuggle closer. They fell asleep like that.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

When next he awoke, sunlight streamed through the window. Thankfully, the annoying cleaning lady didn't show her ugly face.

He lay there for few minutes, giving his eyes time to open all the way. He wiped the crustys out and glanced down at the small form snuggled close to him, his hair tousled, his skin milk pale this early in the morning.

He carefully sat up in bed, trying not to wake him, and packed all his things into his bag, folding up the sleeping bag for the boy to use later. He cast a Cushioning spell on the inside of it, so when they were on the move, he wouldn't have to sleep on the hard ground. It would be just like sleeping on a bed. He stowed this, too, into his bag.

Finally, he was ready to go. He sat in a chair near the window and stared out, waiting for him to wake up. They would have a long way gto go. He had his self-pointing Atlas. He would always know which way to go. He wasn't sure about Shannen, though. He wondered if he shouldn't even bring him back to his own country. Then the thought of all that traveling made him quash that idea. He needed to meet his siblings so they didn't tear each other to pieces when they got older.

"Daddy?"

Severus jumped a little, then realized it was only Shannen. He was awake.

"I'm here, Shan," he said, using a nickname for the boy. It was better than having everyone think he was a girl. He did have long hair. It reached his collar and was very messy.

"We're going on a trip, Shannen. Want to go exploring?" he asked, remembering back on his own childhood days when his mother had referred to their outings as "exploring". He smiled, remembering. May she rest in peace, he thought.

"Yeah!" he said brightly, all nightmares forgotten. He scrambled out of the bed, his clothes all mussed up and tousled, and Severus decided he needed new clothes. He decided to ask someone down in the pub where he could find a wizarding community to shop in.

He pulled his school bag back on his back, straightened out his robes, ran a brush through both their hair and took him by the hand downstairs. No one raised any questions at his suddenly having a child with him.

From the other side of the room, he spotted the blind wizard with the red hair he'd soken to the first day he was here, in the food shop.

He hurried over to him, dragging Shannen along with him, and he oggled up at the blind man, smiling in curiosity. He really was a quite little boy for the most part, but also very curious, staring at everything with an innocent wonder, as if he'd never seen it before.

"Hey," he said to the man

"Are you the young man who talked to me in the food mart the other day?" he asked, looking in his general direction with unseeing eyes.

"Yeah. I have a son who needs clothes, both wizarding and muggle. Any idea where I can find a wizarding shop somewhere nearby?" he asked, trying to be as polilte as possible thhis early in the morning. Then he saw a clock over the bar that read 12:00. He really had to start getting up earlier.

"There's one right out back of this place, actually. Just go on through the back door marked "employees only" and it'll bring you right to it," said the man.

"Thank you," he said curtly, and he led his son right through said back door and into a brightly lit alleyway with shops and stores and pubs and houses crammed together, much like Diagon Alley.

"Wooooaaa!!! Cooool!!" said his son, goggling with wide, interested eyes at everything and everything. Owls flew by in the daylight, cats and dogs of every color wound their wway hrough people's legs as they did their shopping and a bat flew overheead and landed neear an Opothecary. Even Severus was amazed; it was much bigger than Diagon Alley and seemed to have more shops with greater variety.

"I want robe!" he squeakled, pointing to a young woman out shopping with her own small child. She spotted Shannen and toddled over to him. Severus blushed faintly as the girl's mother hurried over and took her hand, trying to seperate the two children, but they were talking animatedly in their limited speech and her mother just gave him an apologetic look and smiled.

"Sorry about this, she just likes talking. She only started a month ago, and now she's never quiet," she said animatedly, trying to tug her daughter away from them so they could go about their shopping.

"Mooooom!" the small girl whined, tugging back.

"That's enough, Izzy! Come on, we have to meet Grandad at the Pub, we'll be late!" said her mother kindly, and the little girl, Izzy resigned herself to her parentla unit and waved goodbye to Shannen.

"I like robes, daddy. I get some?" he said. In baby talk, it came out as "I lak rowbes. I git sum?"

"That is exactly why we're here," he said kindly, and he steered him straight into what looked like a robe shop.

The place was packed, and it was also huge. The town wasn't very big, so there was more space for bigger shops. He spotted a rack of children's robes and let him pick out his own. He picked a small set of plain black ones with green trim, and Severus had to admire his taste; it seemed he had his father's taste.

"Pick out a couple more, and then we have to go to another shop," he said gently, in his new talking-to-kids voice. It was true; he needed to replenish his stock opf potion ingredients. He was low on beladonna and lacewing flies. He also needed to pick up ingredients appropriate for the simpler potions, like calming droughts, pepperup in case Shannen got a cold, and other usefull little things.

He picked out a couple more sets of robes, one set entirely in bright acid green, another in the deepest blood red with orange trim, and Severus picked out a few undershirts and trousers for him, as well as underwear and socks, and he brought it all up to the counter and payed for it with muggle money. The woman just clicked her tongue impatiently and shoved it all in a till.

"Thenk oo, daddy!" he gurgled, giggling as he stepped out in the sunshine with his father, now wearing the green robes and practically skipping to see the effect they made as he walked.

They continmued their shopping, and by the time they had finished, Severus was almost out of money. He would have to find work in the next state they were bound for; California.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Noo!! Rita posted before me!! Ha!!! You're evil woman!! JK, Please review!!


	9. Cali Forn I A

Hey, sorry I haven't updated lately, I've been busy doing other stuff, but I'm back so here's another great installment of "Lost memories and lose ends"

Yes, I have transformed the charmed ones into harry potter type witches, so I must claim that I own none of it!!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus didn't know how to go about getting to the West coast with a toddler; he could hardly fly without fear of him slipping off the end. In the end, he decided on it.

He stood in the back alley of the Blooded Boar Inn, away from the majority of the hussle and bussle, and demonstrated to Shannen what he wanted him to do.

Shannen, who was busy watching a nearby goblin at the Gringotts bank nearby (they had several buildings in several countries) hadn't been paying attention. He toddled up to the strange creature, and he bent down and offered a long, gnarled finger to the boy.

Severus noticed just in time. He hurried over and took his son's hand, casting the goblin an uneasy glance.

"Don't bother them, Shan. They aren't worth dealing with," he said sternly, and he tried to show him the right way to mount a broom. The small boy tripped over the hem of his robes, fell, giggled, got back up and attempted to copy his father, only to trip on the broom handle and cause them both to topple over. Severus couldn't help but chuckle with his son.

Eventually, Severus managed to get his son to sit tight up against his lap in front of him on the broom, and he cast the Disillusionment charm on both of them.

"Daddy, 'ut you doin'?" he shrieked, unafraid.

"We're going for a ride, Shannen, just hand on tight and don't look down!" he said, and he rose into the air slowly.

"Weeeeeeee!!" Shannen giggled, and Severus was surprised to see that his son was completely at ease up in the air, even when he soared above the clouds. He was a bit nervous at first; what if he slipped off the front? But after he rested his hands on the broom ahead of his son's, his arms around him on the broom, he felt a little better.

An hour into the trip, Shannen whined loudly over the rushing wind in their ears, "I'm hungwy!"

The only problem was, they were flying over a large city, and squiinting hard enough, he could just make out a sign that said "welcome to Detroit". (A/N: Alright, I admit it, I know nothing about Detroit, the farthest south in new england I've ever been in Mass. Feel free to review and correct me)

"Alright, we'll land," he said grudgingly.

He spotted what looked like a long, bare strip of pavement below him and he headed for it, not noticing the aeroplanes until one nearly tore his head off.

"Ok, I'll find somewhere else to land," he grumbled to himself, and he flew into a nearby lot in front of a dilapidated store. A group of thuggish looking, dark-skinned men stood in front of it, and Severus got the distinct feeling he should have landed elsewhere.

"Hey, looki the wierdo!" called one of them. Severus didn't care if he got sumoned to a hearing, if one of those thugs messed with him or his son, they would regret it, he though, fingering the handle of his wand.

"Daddy, I scawed," whimpered Shannen, and Severus shrunk the broom in plain view and stuffed it in his school bag. He made a point of scowling darkly at the thuggy men before he grabbed his son's hand, turned, and Disapparated on the spot.

He reappeared on what he thought was the beter side of town. There were more cars, some with loud annoying music pouring out the speakers, others with loud, heavy rock, and he spotted a food shop across the street.

"Daddy funny!" squealed Shannen, giggling, and Severus smiled at him from the corner of his eye. The boy really did make him happier. He was so much like himself at that age, yet so much like Lily in his innocence.

He began walking across the crowded street, holding Shannen close, and suddenly, Shannen voiced the knottiest question of them all.

"Daddy, is you magical?"

He paused, causing one of the bright yellow mugle taxis to honk at him, and he gave the car his middle finger and hurried his son away, to the opposite curb.

"Yes, and so are you," he confided in him, and he oggled at him in wonder, his eyes wide and the exact same color as his.

"I am?" he asked, his eyes going even wider, so he resembled an over-eager house elf.

"You are," he said, and he toook his hand and led him into the food shop.

"Coooool!" he babbled, and Severus couldn't help but chuckle.

He reached into his robes, pulled out the last of his muggle money, ordered them both some food and they ate near the window. They both had a long journey ahead of them.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They spent the night in a very cheap, cockroach-infested hotel, and when he woke up, he was irritable and out of sorts. He hussled his son out the door, and they once more headed into the sky via broomstick. They stopped in a state called Illinois long enough for him to Transfigure the food he'd bought in Diagon Alley, and he duplicated it to make enough for him and Shannen to fill themselves up. He enjoyed the scenery here; it wasn't busy, but it wasn't barren either. Flat, though.

They only landed when it was time to eat, or sleep. Shannen slept in his Cushioned sleeping bag and he slept against whatever stone or boulder he coudl find. They even spent the night in an abandoned cemetary in the woods once. Shannen had woken up with nightmares about Lily's murder again, however. He wondered if the boy could be precognitive, a Seer of sorts. But three years old was much too young to be able to tell.

On the morning they landed on the borders of California at last, Shannen needed a bath badly and both their clothes were torn. Shannen also looked a little sick, so he gave him another vial of Pepperup potion. He was fine after that.

He only had one objection in mind; find the harbor Dumbledore talked about and locate the orphanage his other son was in.

"Daddy, I cold," Shannen whimpered and Severus dug in his school bag and pulled out his last set of clean robes. If he shrunnk them small enough, they should fit him.

He let him change in a back alley, and he helped him pull on a pair of clean socks. They were once again ready to go. A small road sign said they were in a small town called Fresno. (A/N: Again, I have never actually been to most of these locations, except Alaska, so please feel free to review and correct me)

He sighed, suddenly weary. Shannen noticed and squeezed his hand tighter. He gave him a small, reassuring squeeze back and forced a small, strained smile on his face that felt horribly painted.

"What wrong, daddy?"

"Nothing, Shan. We just have a ways to go. You hungry?" he asked.

"Yeah!" he smiled toothily.

Severus pointed his wand at his school bag, said "accio ham" and half a boiled ham came flying out of the bag. He heated it up with a bright purple fire from his wand and they both ate in silence. In the end, Shannen was wearing most of his. He scrubbed it off with a scrap of cloth from his torn robes and they faced the town and all its minions.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Can I give you a lift?"

Severus jumped, and Shannen looked around wildly. They had been walking along the street for an hour, now, and a car had driven up behind them, a black SUV driven by a rather pretty woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. Severus saw a wand lying on the seat beside her.

"Sure," he said wearily, and he pointed his wand at the passenger side door and opened it. He climbed in and Shannen scrambled onto his lap, accidentally kicking him in said lap, and he doubled over, the wind knocked out of him.

The woman was laughing and he glared at her from behind his dark, spiky long hair.

"Where ya headed?" she asked, still smiling, her hands on the wheel.

"Harbor..." he wheezed.

"I'm headed to San Francisco, I can take you to that harbor," she offered.

"Fine..." he gasped, and he eased his son off his much-abused testicles to sit on one thigh instead.

"You know, it's not really a good idea for you to go walking around San Francisco in your robes," said the brown-haired witch conversationally as she drove.

"Do you always drive a muggle car with your wand sitting beside you?" he retorted, and she said no more on the subject.

"Where are you headed? You don't sound from around here," she asked. Shannen giggled and pointed out the window at the passing cars, and the witch sitting beside him smiled.

"I'm from England, and I came over here by broom to pick up my children. I'm headed to a harbor somewhere in California to get my other son," he said, watchuing the passing scenery out his window. A lot of the houses seemed to be built along the same lines and he wondered at the monotiny of it.

"England, huh?" she muttered, and she stop0ped at the light. Ahead of them, he could see the open ocean, filled with boats and docks and sea gulls. There was a seafood restaurant just beside the boating ramps, and his stomach suddenly rumbled for ore than the Transfigured, duplicated Ham, salmon and potatoes they had survived on thus far. The witch seemed to hear it, because she kept driving towards the harbor and pulled in to the parking lot of the restaurant.

"Why don't you and your son go get yourselves something to eat and I'll drop you off here," she said, and she dug into her purse and extracted a small wad of bills Severus counted fifty. She truly was generous, even if she seemed a litle sarcastic, and she smiled at him and Shannen.

"What's yer name?" asked Shannen, smiling back at the witch and she smiled at him again and said, "Piper. And what's yours?"

"Shan!" he said smartly, and she grinned like a moron.

"Thank you, Piper. Where is the orphanage?" he asked, taking Shannen's hand and urging him to hush for a moment.

She looked at him for a moment, her smile fading, taking in his sallow skin, his malnourished look from being on the moe so often, his long, greasy black hair and his black eyes and frowned slightly.

"Just over those train tracks. There's a big sign out on the front lawn. I should warn you, though, that place is not fun. A lot of the kids there are sick," she said, loooking worried.

"My sister works there with the troubled ones," she added.

"Thankoo Pipowa!" Shannen babbled, and she smiled again.

"Good luck. If you need any help, just call me or my sisters," she said, waving her wand. A muggle telephone number appeared on a slip of paper stuck in the dash and she handed it to him. He pocketed it absentmindedly, thinking it highly unlikely that he would call her. She seemed too... friendly. He didn't know why that turned him off, but it did. She just didn't seem his type. Actually, the truth of it was he couldn't get what Lily had done off his mind.

"Thank you," he said again, and he slid out of the truck, Shannen resting in the crook of his arm. It was the first time he had picked his son up, and his weight felt... comfortable to him.

"Land me, daddy!" he cried, laughing, and Severus set him down next to him in the parking lot.

"C'mon, Shan. Let's go," he muttered, and he headed in the direction the witch had pointed, in the direction of the orphanage.

He arrived on the street she had indicated and paused. There were _two_ orphanages, one on each side of the street. Which one should he go for?

He got out his wand and muttered, "_specialis specifo revealo"._

The orphanage on the right glowed momentarily, and he smiled grimly; that was the orphanage he wanted to go for. After all the traveling, he was finally going to see his other son. Next stop was Alaska for his daughter, and then back home to England. After that... he wasn't sure. He had wanted to join his friends from Slytherin and join the Dark Lord's followers, but withthree children this young... he didn't know what to do. He would probably take a job at Hogwarts until they were old enough to take care of themselves. The Death Eaters would have to wait.

He entered the orphanaeg, and his first impression was one of gloom and depression; the walls in this place were a drab gray and the carpeting was worn and dirty and stained. There was a isngle desk in front of him, but behind the desk, there where filing cabinets, marked alphabetically, stacks of papers and a solid-looking wall. They had sent his son _here?_ In this muggle prison??

There was a fat, Black woman behind rthe counter, with long, braided hair and blue eyes. She glanced up at him as he entered, shook her head slightly and payed attention to the papers on her desk.

"I'd like to inquire about a child here, by the name of Severus," he said quietly, squeezing Shannen's hand slightly. He smiled toothily at the Black woman, and she smirked back and stood up; she was quite tall, taller than himself.

"Are you family?" she asked sarcastically, glancing for a moment at Shannen, who scowled.

"I am his biological father. I've come to take him home with his brother and I," he replied coldly.

"Sorry, I just have to ask. Do you have a ready source of income totake care of the child?" she asked, going to a fililng cabinet behind the desk and rifling through the barrage of fiiles there. She finally found the S's and pulled out a rather thick folder. Paper clipped to the front was a picture of a thin, malnourished looking boy with unkempt, overlong black hair, cloudy, storm-green eyes, but with his shape and a sulky expression. He had his nose. He felt a pang of sadness to see his first born son so malnourished, frail and... so abused. He ws exactly like He, Severus Snape, had been at that young age.

"Can I see him? Can I take him home? I have a job... a house. A wife," he said, lying about the latter. He didn't think this glooomy place would let him have his son without being assured he would have a good future; although looking around the place, they weren't too concerned.

"Course. Just sign here, and we'll go git him," she said, her lips pursed, her expression one of a person who had done this many times before and was tired of it.

He signed on the x, his signature loopy and neat, and she took the papers away and vanished through a steel-door with iron bolts around the edges. He didn't like the looks of that door. He wondered what damage he would have to undo to get his son to trust him. How would Shannen, a cheerful, happy boy, be treated by this sulky, smaller version of him?

A moment later, the woman came back out, holding the hand of a pale, sickly-looking boy with the same overlong hair, dirty and hanging in his face. His eyes had a wounded look to them and as he looked deeper, he knew this child had seen things no child his age should see. He also detected a spark of fear.

"Thank you," she said, handing him over, and he was forcibly reminded of a car salesman or a store-owner selling their goods. Did children mean nothing to this horrible place?

He kneeled down on a level and attempted a smile. He held out his hand and the child moved his hair out of his face to look at him better. He had the same eyes as his brother, shaped like Snape's and a cloudy storm green. He did indeed have his nose. He was starting to cry.

"What's gonna happen to me?" he asked, his voice every bit as childish as his brother's, yet strangely legible. He must be very intelligent to have such good speech at only three years old.

"You're going to go home with me and your little brother. I'm your dad," he said gently, trying to hold back the rage and the furious tears he knew were coming. He hated this place and everyhitng about it; they had done this to his first born son, made him just like his father, abused, shy, afraid and scared for his life at every turn until he turned 16. He may not know what he was going to fo as a father, but his first priority was going to be to make his son alright again.

He took his hand and as Severus led both boys outside into the California sunshine, he cleaned his first born's hair with a scourgio spell.

"I can do things," he said suddenly.

"I knwo you can, Severus. We are wizards. Shall we go find your ilttle sister?" he asked conversationally.

Severus Jr goggled up at him, much like the brother at his side, and smiled for the first time.

"Hi!! I Shannen! Who are you?" asked Shannen, smiling at his older brother.

"I'm... my name's Sevrus. People call me Sevvy," he replied shyly, avoiding Shannen's stare.

"Come, boys. It is time to eat," he said, and he took Shanne's hand in his right and Sev's hand in his left. Together, they made their way towards the seafood restaurant by the harbor.

SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Sorry for the wait, please review!!!!


	10. Aurora Borealis and an unwelcome Alaskan

Hey, I know I'm fastforwarding, but it's for a reason, I know you couldn't seriously go from San Francisco to Sterling Alaska in three days. Please review!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus conjured up another squashy sleeping bag, this one blue (to avoide sibling squabbles) and he put a Cushioning Charm on it so Sev Jr would feel comfortable sleeping on the hard ground and decided right off to head for Alaska. The sooner he found Sairsha, the sooner he could unite all his children and himself as a family once more and bring them home where they belonged. Who knew what kind of childhood they would have had otherwise?

They set off the very next day. He didn't bother to call the brown-haired witch who'd given them a ride, but set both his sons on his broomstick in front of him, wrapped his arms around both of them, and they were off. He headed North, obviously. How she had gotten that far away, he would never know.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

He touched down for the night in Canada somewhere, and no one spoke English. He went into town, a strong Disillusionment charm on his head, and stole some meat and carrots. They had run out of food. He needed what money he did have left for when he got home.

They ate well that night, under the stars in a barren, snowy field. It was bitterly cold, and he was forced to conjure up an enormous purple bonfire. He was happy to see Severus and Shannen playing together finally; His namesake was really coming out of hios shell at being found accepted. He remembered feeling the same way as a child. He couldn't wait to see their faces when they were accepted into Hogwarts; the place had been home for him at a time when he had no other home and he didn't want to leave. He _would_ get a teaching job. Maybe Potions.

They awoke the next morning and ther was bad news; Severus Jr appeared to have an itchy, splotchy red rash all up and down his thin, pale arms. He was scratching it and even as he did, Snapes pied some sort of pussy substance leaking out of one of the blisters. He rubbed some dittany into it and some aloe paste to ease the itching, but there was nothiong else he could do except heal it with his wand, but it wasn't a wound.

They arrived just under Alaska's border by the third day on the go. He was exhausted from all the traveling, and he could tell Shannen was too; Severus Jr hadn't been on the road so long, but it was obvious he couldn't wait to go home either. But where was home? Spinner's End was certainly no place to grow up, Severus himself was living proof of that. But he had no choice until he got a decent job.

"Daddy, when we gonna get there?" asked Severus, and he wondered again at his advanced, coherent speech. It was obvious he was intelligent, and his sloppy, American accent was slowly beginning to change, vowel by vowel. It was nice to know he had some influence on them after all. He had nothing against Americans; they were just hard to understand sometimes.

"I'm not sure, Sev. Possibly tomorrow, maybe the next day. Are you hungry?" he asked gently. Severus and Shannen both said "Yees!"

He rolled his eyes in amusement, but got out the chicken and rice and carrots he had managed to duplicate from the original he had stolen, and he began cooking. It was a good thing his mother had taught him how.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The very next day, Severu awoke to strange lights, and his children were already awake. Shannen was yanking on his robes and Severus Jr was yelling in fright. They were both pointing up at the darkened sky and Severus looked up from his own sleeping bag.

The sky was darkened, yes, but there were wavy ribbons of light twisting across the sky, beautiful greens, blues and purples... then they changed again to yellows, reds and oranges. The lights cast shadows on the glistening snow around them, and Severus thought he had never seen anythign quite so beautiful.

"Calm down, it's only the Northern Lights," he said dismissively, and he put an arm around both his boys and they all sat on the cold, hard ground and watched the spectacular display.

The wind started to chill all three of them and Sev Jr was turning blue and shivering violently. Severus saw smoke rising in the distance and lights, even though he didn't see any buildings. Severus stuffed all their belongings into his school bag and bundled both small children close to his body, pulling his cloak around all three of them. Sev snuggled up under his jaw and Shannen snuggled into Sev. Severus began to walk through the hard, pure snow, towards the city that he could not see but knew was there.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They arrived in the city and to their good fortune, their was a warm looking, snow-covered inn meant for wizards. He knew because of the name and the fact that those who were out and watching the lights in the sky were totally ignoring the place.

"Almost there," he said to them both, and he made his way towards the Inn.

He gasped at the sudden change in temperature as he walked inside, and he shivered violently. He felt sick and the twins must have noticed something because Shannen said, "Daddy? You awite?"

He could not answer. He began to cough at the smoke from the torch brackets on the walls and the warmth was unbelieveable in conrast to the bitter cold they had endured for the past three days.

"You alright, man?" asked one fellow wizard, with a bushy brown mustach and wild, bushy hair. He had concerned, kindly blue eyes that reminded him of Albus Dumbledore's and didn't protest when the man gently took Shannen from his arms and set him on the floor.

"I'm... fine. Fine. I've just been traveling a lot," he said finally, and he shivered again. He was starting to warm up at last, and his light-headedness passed. He set Sev Jr down next to his brother, and both boys stared up at him.

"Really. I'm fine," he said to the concerned wizard, and he smiled and ruffled Shannen's hair. Shannen groaned, smiling, and pushed him away.

"Cute kids ya got. They yours?" he asked.

"Yes. They are. I am here from Great Britain to see my daughter," he said stiffly, taking a better loook at the man. He saw a small badge on his chest, pinned to his thick, wooly blue robes; Muggle-wizard relations. Damnit this man must be worried he was kidnapping children or something.

He dug into his school bag for the photographs and found the nes that weren't dated for years in the future. He showed him a picture of all three of the children, one of the slides that had been with Severus, and the man took it.

"Looks like you're tellin' the truth, but she doesn't look anything like you," he said, pointing to the red-haired girl. Severus conjured a picture of Lily with his wand and said rather formally, "She looks like her mother."

"Daddy, where we goin'?" asked Severus Jr, and Severus himself droppwed down on bended knee to look both his sons in the face. He realized all three of them looked rather rugged and thought that the last time he had actually showered was when he had found Shannen and he felt grungy and dirty. He also felt guilty for making his children go without baths.

"Is there a shower here? We've been on the road for more than a week," he said, placing a hand on both his son's backs.

"Sure, and for first time visitors, all the services here are free. Showers are up on the second floor, there's pictures on the doors. You're frfee to whatever you like here," he said kindly, waving his hands at the bar, the tables and the warm lights. There was a woman behind the bar handing chips covered in ketchup to a waiting customer and he craved somethng that wwasn't luke-warm meat cooked over a fire. He thought it was very thoughtful of their Alaskan hosts to allow them to help themselves to anything they wanted here. He found it hard to believe. Maybe there was more to American hospitality than he had at first thought.

"Daddy, can I have some of that, that that man has?" asked Severus Jr, suddenly happy and pointing desperately at the wizard's french fries.

"We can have someone watch the little ones if you want to rest," offered the blue-eyed wizard. Severus used a bit of Legilimensy and saw that the man was having a hard time believing his intentions. He would take his children away.

"No thank you. I can take care fo them. I have the adoption papers on me, if you would like to see them. I have come for my daughter," he said coldly, proferring said papers.

The man looked affronted.

"I believe you! Look, the adoption center is a mile away from here, on the left, the building is yellow, you can't miss it, but be warned; it won't be easy to get your little girl," said the man sternly.

"Daddy?" asked Severus Jr. He tugged on the knee of his robes.

"Is that a threat?" he asked quietly. Severus Jr could see his father and the stranger didn't like each other and he urged his brother to be quiet. Both boys held hands.

"I wasn't threatening you, sir. I was just informing you. The adoption agency here won't just habnd her over without the proper proof and authorization," said the wizard.

"I have it. Please... let us go about our own business, sir. There is more to this than you could possibly guess at," he said firmly, and he ushered his sons over to the bar abnd ordered a large order of rfench fries, a slice of pizza for hiself and chicken nuggets for the boys. The American food was beginning to tell, he thought grimly. He was going to get fat. But he had to admit, they made yummy pizza.

They ate insilence, glorying in the warmth and the hot food and the cool drinks and when they had eaten as much as they could, he thanked the waitress very much and asked for a room.

"Sure, hon, just go up the stairs and there's a room free second door on your right. It should be right next to the showers," she said kindly, and she handed him a small key on an orange plastic keychain that said Room 21.

He had no idea how he was going to get his daughter. If what the blue-eyed stranger had said was true, he would have to resort to something else, the very thing that had, in his time, turned Lily Evans away.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

PLEASE REVIEW!!! OR I SHALL DIE OF REVIEW DEFICIENCY!!


	11. Sairsha and homeward bound at last

Sorry it's taken so long to update, I've been doing stuff lately, (stuff chores, not stuff drugs, hehee) Anyway, Sev gets his girl! He's a spy for a reason, after all.

REVIEW!!

P.S. Severus just got out of school, so technically, it's close to summer, and in summer, Alaska is beautiful, no snow, flowers everywhere, and every bit as sunny as anywhere else in the world. However, I have decided to take liberties, for story purposes, and make it dark, like it is in winter.

PLEASE REVIEW!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

They all slept in the proferred room that night, and all night, Severus dreamed of Lily... and small, red-headed girl children.

When he awoke, it was to find both boys awake and searching through his school bag. Sevvy had found the potion flasks.

Quick as a cat, Severus sprang out of bed and intercepted them.

"Don't touch! " he scolded lightly. Sev scowled and Shan looked hurt.

"Some of the stuff in here is breakable, and it's where I keep all the things we need to live until we get back home," he added, and Sev seemed to decide he wanted to live before they got back to England because he interested himself in the window overlooking outside. Not that there was much to see.

Getting to his feet, his school bag in hand, he followed his son to the window and looked out. If it weren't for the street lamps, the glow of the sultry, light blue velvety false dawn and the faint glimmer of snow off light, he would have thought it was still night. Looking at his watch told him it should be 9 AM.

"Let's go, children," he said grimly, not looking forward to whatever Dark magic he would have to use to get his last and only child back.

He helped both boys get changed (having duplicated one of Shan's "new" robes with a Geminio charm so they were identical, or nearly) and they collected what things they had and tramped downstairs into the warmly lit wizard pub. Severus did NOT fancy going back outdoors. Winter in Enlgand was NOTHING compared to this freezing hell.

He seated himself at the bar and ordered a light breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and ordered both boys some stuff called hash browns and bacon. They both ate ravenously, and he noticed that Sev ate almost like a wild animal. He would have to teach the two manners sometime. But they were only 3. Vaguely, he wondered when their birthdays were. He ought to check those journal notes again.

"Going out to get your daughter, are ya?" It was the blue-eyed wizard that'd caused them trouble the night before.

"Yes," he said bitterly.

"You remember what I said, boy. It won't be easy," he reminded him, and Severus itched to hex his stupid, friendly face. But he needed to set a good example.

He forced his face into a painful smile and simply refused to talk. He took both boys by the hand and led them outside.

The icy wind hit them all like a shock wave, and Shan visibly shuddered. How could _anyone_ live here?

Yet everywhere he looked, he saw muggle cars and children playing on the sidewalks and dogs running around. It was like they hardly even noticed it!

He walked fast, urging the boys to keep up, and he saw it; the yellow building the blue-eyed man had described the night before. A big, cheery sign out front said "non-profit orphanage".

He approached the front door and opened it without knocking. Anything to get in from the cold!! He was _definitely_ Apparating them all out of here, long distance be damned! He wasn't flying in cold like this.

His first impression of the inside was of a cheerfuly painted muggle doctor's office. The walls were a sickly pale green, the carpet, a dark blue. The trim around the desk was done in the baby blue.

There was no one in sight, so he urged the children to wait quietly, and stood up straight, looking for a bell of some sort. He found one and rang it.

He stood and waited for what seemed like forever before someone finally came out to greet him.

It was a plump woman dressed oddly in what seemed to be a plaid dress and several wool shawls draped around her. A fur-lined winter jacket was draped over the chair behind the desk and he assumed it was hers.

"Can I help you? Are you here to drop someone off?" she asked kindly. This was going to be a piece of cake.

"No, I am not. They are my cousin's children, I'm merely... babysitting... while he's away. No, I came here to inquire about a particular little girl by the name of Sairsha. Is she here?" he said quietly.

The woman looked quite taken aback.

"The red-head girl? Of course she's here! And a lot of trouble she gives us, too! Are you family?" she asked, sitting down quickly, and bringing out a sheaf of paper. She reminded Severus of a fat hen, the way she moved so quickly and jumped right to the point.

"I am her father. My name is Severus Snape," he replied.

"Snape? Did you say Snape?" asked the woman, her blue eyes wide. Her flyaway brown hair was in a messy bun, he now realized; he had thought it merely a rat's nest.

"I did," he answered softly.

"The woman said nothing more until she had filled out a few papers. She pushed one towards him and asked him to fill it out. He simply hoodwinked it with a wand and cast a certain Dark spell over it so the government here believed the information on it to be true. He did not want the American wizarding ministry to come looking for him months from now for kidnapping his own children.

"This will do fine. Would you like to take her now? She doesn't have much," said the woman.

"I will be delighted to take her off your hands, if she is a problem," he said, smirking slightly. This was it. He would take his daughter, and they could all go home.

The woman stalked off through a cheerfully painted door behind the desk (they all seemed to be somewhat alike, he mused) and came back a few moments later holding the hand of a small, skinny girl with waist length, thick, messy red hair and large green eyes that stood out much to much on her pale, thin face. She wore an over long t-shirt that reached just belower her skinny knees and she had a small scar on the thin shoulder poking out of her shirt. It looked like a bite scar from another kid, he mused.

"Here he is, dear. No need to be shy! Introduce yourself!" urged the fat woman.

Sairsha deined to hide behind her skirts and peer out at all of them with wide eyes.

"Come, Sairsha. Would you like to go home?" he asked, his voice as casual and velvety as he could make it. The girl peered out further, and picked up a small bag off the floor. It was purple and black and featured a black dragon from some muggle cartoon or other. It didn't look very full.

"Yes, daddy," she said meekly, and he was shocked to hear his own British tones thrown back at him! How had she learned to speak that way, living in America?

"She tends to copy one of the other boys here who's from Britain, it annoys some of the others so much! But now I see where she must get it. Have a good life, Sairsha!" said the plump woman, and she gave the small girl a gentle push in the back.

"Come," he said, holding out a hand, and as the girl approached him and her brothers, Sev stepped toward her, looking almost as meek and shy as she did.

"M'name's Severus, like our dad. Do you need help?" he asked, gesturing to her small bag. She shook her head vigorously and clutched it even tighter, her long red hair swaying back and forth with her head. It was very thick and very knotted up, he noticed, and it would definitely need attention. He saw faint but visible black streaks under all the red, and wondered if it was natural or not. As for her clothes... a duplicate of her brother's would have to suffice for the moment, until he could get back home with them.

He ushered them all outside and noticed how Sairsha shivered violently. After a few moment, she seemed to resign herself to it and walked like the rest of them.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Once they were all back on the edge of the town, Severus kneeled down and pulled all three children close to him, wrapping his cloak around them all. He turned clumsily on the spot and Apparated back to warmer weather. Somewhere in southern Canada.

"Wow," said Sairsha, shivering slightly, and she pulled away from the rest of them and forgot her bag. Severus looked down and saw that it was partway opened and he was surprised at what he saw inside. A small, leather-bound journal with Lily's name blatantly written across the front. Here was the book that had been the source of all the ripped out journal entries he had found with the boys. He also saw a few herbs and some wild white roses, already dying. It seemed she liked things that smelled pretty.

"Are you ok?" asked Shan in his garbled baby-talk, and Sairsha nodded and smiled toothily at them both. The effect it made was startling. She was a beautiful child indeed. She had his smile and his black highlights, but everything else was simply Lily.

Or so he thought, until he discovered her temper and the immense hatred inside her. But Severus and his evil narrator decieded to leave that for a later chapter.

"Come. It's time to go home," he told them all, and he pulled his broom out of his own bag and made it normal size once more. If he never rode another broom in his life, he would be happy.

He performed another Geminio charm and got a copy of the green robes both boys wore and helped Sairsha pull them on, so at least she was warmer. She seemed to know what he was doing with the broom, however, because she swung a small, thin leg over and settled her bottom back into his lap and waited for her brothers to clamber on.

Once they were all on, he wrapped his arms around them on the broom handle and they began to rise into the air. He remembered at the last minute to Disillusion all of them, and they were off, set for home at last.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Hope you liked it!! please review!!!!


	12. 1987

Hey, I have taken the liberty to fast forward this to where the kids are all age 5. Severus has his hands full!

The year is 1987. Severus would have graduated from Hogwarts at the age of 18 in 1981. Don't ask me why the kids are as old as they are, I needed them to be able to have some modicum of speech, so they just are.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The morning dawned bright in Spinners end 6 years later, but it seemed to do nothing for the dreary little town. No one cared anyway, with half the buildings derelict and the other half almost in the gutters asa it was; ever since the factory shut down, it was the same song and dance when _any_ factory was shut down. People lost their jobs, their income, and eventually, their homes. There was no doubt, however, that a place like Spinners End was a dreary place to grow up.

Yet three small children were playing on the other side of the dead end street, splashing in the mud puddles and chasing each other around. The two black haired boys chased their red-haired sister around and vice versa. It had been two years since all three children had been rescued from dreary lives in America to have dreary lives with their father in England, and here they were, 9 years old.

Sairsha spun around, her waist length hair flying in wavy tresses, and she met her brother in mid-tackle. They both fell over with loud outcries and Shannen watched on, curious.

"No fair!" cried Severus, the eldest triplet. His hair was no longer unkempt; it reached his shoulders and was clean and evenly cut. He was fuller, his face was happiper than it had been before. All three children, in fact, looked exactly as you would imagine three rambunctious 9-year olds would look.

"What, you going to tell?" taunted Sairsha, the youngest of the three. She loved picking on her older brothers, and they didn't seem to mind. She srunched up her small, pale face and folded her arms.

"Maybe," said Severus, sticking his tongue out, and at that moment, the elder Severus stuck his head out of their home, where he had grown up.

He hadn't changed much. He had a steady job in a wizarding town (Hogsmeade, obviously) and had gotten used to having three noisy, hungry children around. He was still, in most ways, the snarky teenager he always had been. He was just a more patient man, and it was a good thing he had it in him. Those three required all the patience he could muster. It was hard being a single father, no matter how different his circumstances were.

He had a few tired lines under his eyes, but that was all that had seemed to change. He was 24 years old and still wore the same black robes and the same hairstyle. He had recently cut it to just below his chin.

"You better be playing nicely with your brothers, Sairsha!" he scolded lightly, scowling in just that way that seemed to keep them in line. Sooner or later, he knew, that look would cease to work, in which case he would need to find a different tactic, but for now, it worked.

"I am!" she called back, waving, and Severus smirked and pulled his head back in the house. He'd leave them to it, and sooner or later, one or the other of them would come inside and complain about how one of his or her siblings had pushed them in the mud.

He headed back to the kitchen behind the hidden door and proceeded to finish the dinner he had started. He was making their favorite, something they had all for some reason learned to like in the States, Macaroni and cheese. He despised the stuff and usually consented himself with a baked potato and a steak or something.

The house hadn't changed much. Not a one of the children were allowed in his old bedroom. He hadn't touched it since his mother was buried, and it was how it would stay. They didn't know the counter charms for any of the wards he had on the door anyway. They slept in seperate rooms and he slept in his mother's old room. All semblances of his father had been burned away. The house was his, and his alone. Sairsha slept alone in a room while her brothers shared one.

He lifted the pasta off the stove with his wand and set it down on the table, along with silverware, napkins and drinking cups made of some sort of cheap plastic. It only took him a few seconds. Another flick of his wand, and his own meal soared out of the oven, smoking and smelling very good. He had made himself a rack of ribs in barbeque sauce, the only thing from the States he had gotten hooked on, and a baked potato.

He flicked his wand a thrid time and his doe Patronus soared out and right through the wall to tell his children dinner was ready, and to wipe their feet on the mat. They always forgot but he never begrudged them for it. He simply cleaned the carpets with a flick of his wand.

A moment later, they all three came indoors, filthy, mud-splatterd, out of breath and pink-cheeked. Compared to how they had looked when he had first seen them, it was a much-like improvement.

"Go get changed and wash your hands," he said gently. He had learend very early on not to yell at them. He diciplined them, yes, but yell at them, he did not. The first time he had ever yelled at Sev, for instance, he had turned into the sulky little boy he had met at the orphanage and all three of them hid back in their shells. It turned them into obedient, silent-eyed zombies and he didn't like that. It reminded him too much of how he had been.

They all trumped up the stairs, nine years old, all of them. Severus and Sairsha were the most intelligent, by far, and Shan was average; he wasn't dim, but Severus got the feeling that if they all grew old enough to attend parties, Shannen would be the life of them.

He waited at the table for approximately ten minutes before he heard them all start decending the stairs. Sairsha was dressed in her favorite black robes and both boys had decided on a blinding shade of blue. They usually tried to dress alike and he kept most of their clothing as different as could be simply because of it. He didn't want any more squables than he could handle.

"Yay, macaroni and cheese!" squealed Shannen happily, and he began eating. All three of them had much better table manners once they learned their food was not going anywhere and it was not going to vanish into thin air.

Severus watched them as he ate slowly, savoring his ribs. Sairsha ate slowly, like he did, but both boys were voracious eaters. It was a good thing for magic, Severus thought, or they might have eaten him out of house and home in a few years.

"Dad? When do we start at Hogwarts?" asked Sairsha suddenly, in between bites. She was staring at him with her large, bright green eyes through long, sooty-colored eyelashes. Her eyebrows, too, had turned black, for some reason. It was an odd look, but she wasn't an unattractive child. Her eyebrows were not that thick, in any case.

"When you all turn 11," he replied, raising one eyebrow and giving her a small smile.

"Do they really have ghosts and floating candles and house elves?" asked Shannen.

"Yes," he replied, to which both boys looked at each other and said, "wicked!" They were rather cute.

"I want to go," said Sairsha moodily, stabbing at a macoroni noodle.

"C'mon, Sairsha. We'll all get to go when we're older," said Sev, patting her on the back, and she looked up at her brother, then up at her father.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes," said Severus again, and he was forcibly reminded of the conversation he had had with their mother, Lily about Hogwarts. Even with the downfall of Lord Voldemort six years earlier (shortly after he had returned with his children; it was almost amazing how fast she had married Potter and had a child). Even though he was prepared for the death of his school love and the only woman he had ever fell for, it had still been hard, and he still found himself thinking of her.

"Cool," she said, and she hid her satisfied smile with another bite full of pasta.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

That September, just before his children started their sixth year of primary school, he received a letter from the headmaster of Hogwarts.

_Dear Severus,_

_I remembered your interest in teaching here at Hogwarts School and am delighted to inform you that I have a post available, if you would like it still. How would you feel to being Potions Master here?_

_Please reply using your owl, because I remember the raven you had as a student here, and my phoenix doesn't like those birds. I shall discuss the terms and benefits of your employment here, and await your answer as soon as possible._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Hogwarts Headmaster_

Severus folded the letter up and sighed. Working at his old school would be good for him; it payed better, he knew, and his children would have a better education. On the down side, all his worst childhood memories would come flooding back. He wanted this job. He needed this job.

He would just have to remember those times and swallow them with as much dignity as he could muster.

He grabbed a quill and scribbled a message on the back of the first letter.

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_I would be delighited. Tell me. Are my children's names down on the list of accepted students? And if they are not, would you kindly see that they get there. Sairsha has her hopes on Hogwarts, as do her brothers. Many thanks,_

_Severus Snape_

He sent it off with his owl (his raven had gone wild) and sat heavily in his chair, a book in his lap. He would wait for the triplets to finish school. At around 2:30 pm, he would Apparate to the muggle primary school, pick them up, lead them into a secluded alley they saved especially for Apparating, and Disapparate back home. He saw no reason to hide his children from their magical birthright. They were not muggle born, after all, but half blood, like him. They had a right to know.

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

It continued on this way for the next year and a half, the day all three children received their Hogwarts letters. Severus had been working at Hogwarts since they were 9.

"Dad, we got our letters! When are we going to Diagon alley?" asked Sairsha excitedly. Her hair was still waist length, but there were small streaks of black here and there and her skin was pale as marble. Her brothers resembled him as much as she resembled Lily. With his nose and Lily's eyes, his hair and her temperament (and cheekiness), they were a well matched trio. It was the year in which they had been born. 1988.

He took them into Diagon alley that very day. He wanted the opportunity to be with his children as they prepared for their first year at Hogwarts.

They stopped in Madam Malkins first to get their school robes. Next was Eeylops Owl emporium, where Sairsha spent the last of her 11th birthday money on a large, black horned owl she named Soot right off the bat.

Next they had fun choosing different colored inks for school and they chose parchment books and quills. Next, they all visited Flourish and Blots, where Severus had a quiet and hushed arguement with Sairsha because she wanted to get a few more books than were on her list. She already had plenty at home. She loved to read, and so did her brothers.

Next and last stop before he treated them all (including himself) to ice cream sundaes, was Ollivanders. He had been most worried about this stop since they arrived.

"Remember, you are _not_ to use magic with these outside Hogwarts, do you understand?" he said sternly, but gently before they went in to the shop.

"Yes, dad," they all chorused, looking bored and resigning themselves to their idea of boredom.

"Good," he replied. and he held the door open for all of them.

The shop hasn't changed much since he had last been inside. The old man was sorting wands, his back turned to the four of them, and without looking around, he said in a wheezy voice ,"Ahh, Severus Snape. Nice to see you again."

"Whoa," said Shannen, gazing around the shop. It was stacked, floor to ceiling with wand boxes.

"Ollivander. I am here for my children this time, not for myself," he said briskly.

"Children?" said the old man, turning his misty eyes on the three kids in front of him.

"Severus Snape, a father? Oh, wonderful! So, three new wands for three new students, is it? Well... I think we have all you need here, hold out your wands arms, that's it..." he muttered, and his posessed tape measurer started meaasuring all three of them while the old man looked for wands. Severus sat on a chair in the corner. He would never admit it, but this was one of the happiest days in his life, watching his children come into their powers for the first time.

"That will do," said Ollivander, and as the tape measurer fell to the floor, he pulled out 8 boxes and laid them on a table.

He handed Sairsha a black wand, Shannen a brown one, and handed Sev what looked like vine.

"Give them a wave," Ollivander urged them, and as one, all three waved the wands about. Shannen's emitted green and gold sparks. Sairsha's flew out of her hand and hit her brother in the head and Sev's wand set the nearby bookcase on fire.

"Nope," said Ollivander, as he restored the bookcase and SDeverus restored Sev's forehead.

"Very good, master Shannen! Ooo... your new wand, my boy. Mahogony, ten inches, dragon heartstring," applauded Ollivander, and he set the wand in the box and handed it to Severus. Mahogony... the same as James Potter. But dragon heartstring... that was a powerful combination.

"Let's see here, let's see... ah!" said Ollivander, and he handed Sairsha another wand from the pile of 5 on the table. This one was more of a reddish brown color, darkly stained like heart's blood.

"Cherry and phoenix feather, 12 inches, rather flexible, try this, dear girl," he said, and Sairsha gave it a wave. Immediately, she was surrounded by a misty blue glow that Severus recognized immediately as an immature Protego spell.

"Oo, well done, well done,... and now, for Severus," he said under his breath, and he turned back to the small pile on the chair.

Hmm... Pine, no... Yew? Perhaps... Here," said Ollivander, "Yew and Unicorn hair, eleven inches, quite rigid, try."

Severus tried, bringing the Yew wand swishing down through the air, and the air got warmer as gold and red sparks flew from the tip. Gryffindor colors, thought Severus.

"Ooo!! Wonderful! Very good! Seven sickles for the Yew wand, six galleons for the Cherry and seven galleons for the Mahogony, please," said Ollivander, and Severus got to his feet and handed the old man the gold and silver.

"Wow!! Did you see me and that bookcase? and Sairsha and my forehead!" exclaimed Sev as they exited the shop, all their packages on trolleys pulleed behind them. They had too many things between the three of them to carry on their own.

"Yeah," said Sairsha, clutching her wand box close to her. It seemed she really liked her new wand.

"I can't wait till school starts! I wonder what our teachers will be like?" wondered Shannen aloud, frowning slightly.

"Well, you already know your Potions teacher. I'm sure if you asked him, he would be happy to tell you about your other teachers," said Severus from behind them all.

"Really?" asked Sev jr.

"No, don't! I want to find out for myself!" Sairsha insisted.

"Fine," Sev gave in, sighing heavily.

On their way out of the busy alleyway, they ran into someone emerging from Knockturn alley, someone with blonde hair and cold blue eyes. She was dressed in robes and glared at the lot of them as she dropped her packages. Behind her stood none other than Severus's old school friend, Lucius Malfoy. So this was his daughter?

"Severus," greeted Lucius.

"Lucius." he nodded in reply.

"I don't believe you've met my daughter, Orionna? " said Lucius coldly, smirking in that cold way he had.

"My children, Severus, Shannen and Sairsha," he replied as coldly, mentioning them in the order they were born almost subconsciously.

"Ah, yes. you're..children. The reason for your... delay in joining the Dark Lord's side," he sneered. Severus pulled all three of his children closer to him, one hand on Sev's shoulder, the other on Sairsha's. Shannen huddled between them.

"I suppose. You'd better hurry along, Lucius. I am sure you have better things to do than banter with old school friends," said Severus coldly, and Orionna chose that moment to make a scrunched up face and say, "Eww, daddy, they're mudbloods! I can smell them!"

The reaction as immediate.

Sairsha reacted with a speed that unnerved her father. She had jumped on top of the blonde girl and started wailing on her before either father knew what had happened.

"We're not mudbloods!!" shrieked Sairsha, and both her brothers and her father pulled her off by the back of her robes. She looked livind, her green eyes furious and full of a cold fury the likes of which Severus had only ever seen on Albus Dumbledore. Orionna now sported a bloody lip and a few scratches and her hair was mussed up.

"You brat!" cried the little blonde girl to Sairsha. Beside her, her brother Shannen glared daggers at Orionna and Sev jr looked as if he wanted to jump on her, too.

"We're not mudbloods! We're half! You don't have to be so mean!" Sairsha yelled back.

"Come, Orionna," said Lucius coldly. He hd not done a thing to prevent the attack. He took his daughter and swept her away.

Severus was still shocked. Sairsha may rough house with her brothers, that was fine; he had never seen her openly atack another person out of nowhere, although he felt some sort of small pride at having handled it so well.

It was going to be an interesting first year for his children at Hogwarts.

SASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!

Orionna dies. Lucius has draco later. just info


	13. Another generation to Hogwarts

Hey, updating once again, but it's going to be few and far between because the week leading to Halloween is always busy for me. I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!

Anyway, after the fight with Orionna, the triplets go to Hogwarts with their father on the Hogwarts Express.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Dad, I can't find my wand!"

Severus groaned. They had all been scramblling about the place looking for forgotten things for half an hour. It was amazing how far things wandered with three children in the house. And they only had fifteen minutes to get to King's Cross!

"Accio Shannen's wand!" he said, and Shannen's Mahogony wand flew into his hand from under one of the sofa cushions.

"Right," he said through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to sigh, "has everyone got their things packed now?"

"I've had my things packed for the last five minutes," said Sairsha. She was sitting on a chair, already dressed in her brand new uniform, legs crossed neatly, reading a book, her trunk next to her. Severus smiled grimly; she didn't have the best short term memory, but she was xcertainly organized... in a messy sort of way, he noted, staring at a sleeve of a robe poking out of the corner of her trunk.

"Dad, Sevvy dumped all my stuff on my bed!" Shannen whined. He, too, was wearing his robes, but his tie was done wrong.

Severus supressed a groan and waved his wand once; Shan's tie re-did itself; he waved it again; the clothes and books and things on the bed upstairs dumped themselves back into his trunk.

"Everyone, get your trunks, get your wands, and don't. Forget. _Anything," _he said sternly, stressing the point. There would be no one here to send things to the school if anyone forgot something, and they were running late! They needed to go! NOW!

Sairsha stood up and grabbed one end of her trunk, her wand safely stowed inside her robes.

"Dad, can I try?" asked Sev jr.

"Fine," he said, though with some hesitation.

Sev jr raised his own Yew wand, and said, "Accio, school trunk!"

Several loud thumps later, his trunk came zooming down the stairs and came to a halt just at his side.

"Everyone ready?" he asked irritably, his own trunk at his side. He already had robes and things at his office in Hogwarts, he only needed paperwork and books and quills and things, so his was quite light.

"Yes, dad," said Sairsha with a haughty expression on her face. She flung her long red hair out of her face and joined her brothers and father in the center of the living room.

He grabbed all three children tight, pulled them close to him, spun on the spot and Apparated, with their things, into an alley very near King's Cross station.

SASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Come on!" Severus urged them all. Sairsha and Shannen were lagging behind he and his namesake, and he stopped and hurried them on with his hands.

The entered the station and Severus very nearly collided with a group of Japanese tourists.

"Sorry," he muttered, although he made sure to glare at one of them who gave him the finger.

"Coming, dad!" whispered Shannen; Severus had warned them all not to speeak to the muggles in the station about anything magic; therefor he felt the need to whisper. Severus almost smiled in spite of their hurried state; there was no denying that as much of a pain as his children could be, they still had their cute moments.

He waited for all three of them to catch up; not surprisingly, people were giving them more than a glance at their wizard clothing. They needed to hurry, before they broke the Statute of Secrecy.

"Hurry, now, through the barrier," he hissed at them, his hair flying as he looked around at them.

Sairsha went first, her black horned owl Soot in his cage on her trolley; she took a running start, hit the barrier, and vanished through. The muggle took no notice.

"Me next!" whispered Shannen excitedly, and he followed his sister through; then Sev jr; followed closely by their father.

Severus ushered his children towards the scarlet steam engline that had appeared out of nowhere and saw, from the corner of his eye, Orionna and her father. He ignored them on purpose. Lucius had been his friend at school, but no more. Not when he knew so much about Lily's demise and James and the Dark Lord. (A/N: Makes you wonder who, if not Severus, overheard part of Trelawny's prediction!)

"Dad, where're we gonna sit?" asked Sev, almost seriously; for his age, the boy seemed more deep minded than his siblings, even though his sense of fun and.. well, childishness was the same. He was more thoughtful, more... well.. _cute. _It was strange for a child his age to be so deep minded and thoughtful, but these _were_ his children. If he wanted to look for the reasons behind it, he had only to look at himself more closely.

Not something they had time for right now.

The train whistle sounded, and many paretns were handing their children things through the windows one last time, or else giving hugs and kisses goodbye. Severus bewitched all their trunks and Sairsha's owl (who was to be used by all three of them, Or. Else) and they all floated into the storage compartment with the rest. He urged them all onto the train, and noticed that many of the students recognized him as their teacher and gave him a wide berth. They also spared glances for the triplets. Their names would be announced during Sorting as Evans, although their names were Snape; he didn't want them being picked on or snubbed because people knew they were related to the Potions teacher. Undoubtedly, Slughorn would recognize the name "Evans", but he would make up some sort of excuse.

"Go find seats; I will meet you shortly," he said softly. Sairsha gave him a brief hug around the middle and hurried off, her long, wavy red hair swaying as she walked. Apparently, her collected exterior was a lie; she was every bit as excited as her brothers, who were practically hyped on caffiene.

_Sairsha's POV_

She gave her father a brief hug and ran off to find a compartment, excitement bubbling through her like adrenaline. She was a witch, she was here, she was going to Hogwarts!!

She peeked into the next compartnment she came to; it was empty but for one person, a small, timid looking boy with brown hair and pale skin.

She opened the door and asked, "is anyone sitting here?"

"Huh? N-no, you can come sit if y-you want," said the boy. Sairsha looked at him a bit oddly, but sat down. He must have a speech problem. He wore school robes with red and gold trim; her father had told them about the different houses, this boy must be from the one called Gryffindor.

"My name is Sairsha," she said by way of greeting. She was so happy right then, she decided she could be cheerful to anyone she met.

"K-Kendal Halfscrumb. People calle m-me Ken," he stammered, shaking her hand, and she sat back and waited for her brothers, if they even wanted to come. She knew they were all pretty close, but she wasn't sure, with how excited they all were, if they would want to sit with the girl they spent every other waking moment with.

"So, k-know what house you'll b-be in yet?" asked Kendall.

"No, but my father was in Slytherin, and my mother in Gryffindor, so I dunno. My brothers may come by later," she replied, looking out the window. She had never been on a train before.

"Wow, your m-mum was in Gryffindor and your dad w-was in S-slytherin? Wow... must be a w-world record," said Kendall; for some reason, he sounded half amused, half cynical.

"Hey, Sairsha.. who's this?" asked Shannen. He came in to the compartment and sat beside his sister. He brushed his long dark hair out of his face and looked at Kendall.

"I'm Shan," he said, holding out a hand.

"K-kendall," said the boy again, shaking his hand.

"Where's Sev?" asked Sairsha, turning to her brother.

"Sitting with.. er... Professor Snape," he replied, remembering last minute that they weren't supposed to tell anyone he was their father.

"G-good lord, already in t-t-trouble f-first day?" said Kendall, mildly surprised.

"Nah. Friend of the family," replied Shannen, lying very suavely, thought Sairsha.

"So what's wrong with your mouth?" asked Shannen.

"Shan!" Sairsha hissed, elbowing her brother sharply in the ribs. He could be SO outspoken sometimes!

"It's ok. M-my tongue is t-too big for my m-mouth, and I'm muggle b-born, and my p-p-parents don't want me f-fixing it with m-magic," Kendall said, as if it were nothing.

The train began to move, taking them out of King's Cross and heading towards Hogwarts.

Kendall and Shannen seemed to hit it off very well; Kendall was a second year at Hogwarts and he filled them in on a lot of things, such as classes and the teachers; Sairsha had to stomp on her brother's foot more than a few times when Kendall started in on their father. She was the younger one, but damned if she was going to let one of her older brothers stick their feet in their mouths.

After about an hour, a plump woman with a snack cart rolled by and asked if any of them wanted anything. Sairsha stared;; Licorice wands and chocolate frogs, cockroach clusters and lollipops... she paid for two chocolate frogs and a pack of Blowing gum for her brother, since he had spent all the pocket money he had on a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"I think we're here," said Kendall, as the train started to slow an hour later. The candy was long gone and Sairsha was getting hungry.

The train stopped and they began filing off the train.

"Hope t-to see you in Gryffindor!" called Kendall, as he seperated himself from Sairsha and her brother to join some of his friends.

"Firs' years! This way! Firs' years, over here!" called someone with a lantern. It was very dark outside.

"Whoa," said Shannen, looking up. Sairsha looked up, too. Up and up and up, to see a very hairy, very big man with lots of beard and black eyes. His voice seemed friendly enough.

"Firs' years, this way!" he called again, and Sairsha looked around for Severus. Where was he? Then she saw him. He had apparently been seeking them out, too, because he appeared suddenly at her other arm. She stood in middle.

"Looking for me?" he asked, smiling at her. She nodded andhe took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"We're all nervous and excited, Sairsh," said Shannen from beside her. How had he known? Ah well.

They followed the giant to the edge of what looked like a lake, where a dozen boats floated there untethered.

"No mor'n four to a boat!" called the giant, and Sairsha, Severs and Shannen all grabbed the boat nearest them, along with a stringy boy with blonde hair and green eyes who looked very nervous indeed.

"Wonder where dad is," whispered Sev to his brother, and both Shan and Sairsha shrugged in reply.

Up ahead of them, the castle gleeamed in the darkness, its sillhouette outlined by the many candles and fires lit within, making it seem to glow, and they could see clearly the many towers and turrets against the velvety black sky.

"Ooohh!" they all gasped. It was their wildest dream finally come true.

""You'll be gettin;' your firs' view 'o the castle in jus' a sec!" called the giant man, who had a boat all to himself.

The boats floated closer and closer to the castle, until they finally beached themselves on a shore of pebbles in what appeared to be an underground tavern or boathouse.

Shannen clambered out, followed by his brother, folowed by the stringy blonde boy, followed by Sairsha.

"Scum," they heard a girl sneer as she stalked past. It was the blonde girl from Diagon Alley, Orionna. Clearly, she had not forgotten the brawl incident, and Sairsha inched her hand towardds her Cherry wand. Sev's hand on he wrist stopped her.

"Plenty of time for that later," he whispered. She nodded.

They followed the giant man up a set of winding spiral stairs until at last, out of breath, they reached what looked like two huge front doors. The giant opened them and led them all inside.

The front hall was ENORMOUS. Torch brackets on the walls filled with flames filled the place with flickering light and bathed them all in warmth. The floor was smooth stone, the walls, paneled in wood in some areas, stone blocks in others.

The giant led them up t he stairs and up to a set of huge oak doors inlaid with what looked like gold filligree, and a tall, stern-looking witch in green velvet with square glasses. This must be McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher Kendall Halfscrumb told them about on the train.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here," she said, and the giant went on through to the room behind the doors.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" said the witch to the crows od fisrt years.

"In just a moment, you will be allowed to go through these doors and join your classmates, but before you do, you must be Sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. I hope to find you all a credit to whichever house becomes yours," she explained.

Just then, their father swept up through the crowd of them and gave McGonagall a curt nod, sparing his children a glance before walking on through to the hall behind her.

A moment later, their father poked his head out of the doors and muttered soomething to McGonagall.

"We are ready for you now," she said.

She led them all through to the Great Hall, and even Sairsha's jaw dropped.

There were five tables; four in front of them, one at the head of the cavernous room where their father sat with the other teachers. He was easily the youngest one there.

She stopped them all at the front of the hall, where there sat a stool upon which sat an aged and very patched wizard's hat.

"When I call your name, you will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and it will tell you where it ought to be. Evan Abercrombie!"

The stringy blonde boy that had ridden in the boat with them pushed his way to the front of them all and sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table second to the far left of the hall began clapping and cheering and the boy named Evan took off the hat and went to sit with them.

"Selene Bagg!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Sairsha noticed that the hat appeared to have some sort of mouth.

"Shana Crissline!"

The hat took a few moments for Shana Crissline, but it finally decided on Gryffindor.

"Timothy Euan!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The table on the very left exploded in applause, and the terrified boy's face broke into a toothy grin as he joined his classmates.

"Sairsha Evans!" cried McGonagall.

Sairsha jumped slightly, looking around nervously. She spotted a friendly looking wizard at the middle of the staff table who nodded slightly at her, and a very fat man wearing all green next to him was looking at her very oddly.

"Sairsha Evans! Up here, please!" called McGonagall.

"Go!" hissed one of her brothers.

She stumbled forward and sat on the stool. The hat covered her eyes and smelled like old leather. A small voice in her ear made her jump again as it said, "Ahh... another Snape, at last... clever of you... hmmm... Courage, I see... intelligence, oh my, yes.. so where to put you?"

"Anywhere," she thought.

"Hmm..." said the hat in her ear. "I know just where to put you," said the hat.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table cheered and waved and Sairsha found the hat being taken off her head. She flashed a quick look up at the Staff table towards her father, and he gestured to the Ravenclaw table with one lazy hand.

"Severus Evans!" called McGonagall.

At her brother's name, the hall got quiet and more than a few tables glanced up at the staff table at the Potions teacher.

"Is he your brother?" asked one Ravenclaw girl with blonde hair and vague blue eyes. She introduced herself as Penelope Love (A/N: I'm putting a lot of HP character's parents in here, because I can and I'm lazy, so this is Luna's mother).

Sairsha''s father stood up at the staff table and cleared his throat.

"Severus is not such an uncommon name," he said very coldly. Sairsha knew that tone of voice. It was the voice he used whenever he wanted them to behave.

Sev sat on the stool and before long, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Sairsha looked crestfallen as she watched her older brother make his way to the Gryffindor table with the rest. He flashed her a thumbs up and she smiled, reassured. She hoped Shannen, at least, ended up in Ravenclaw with her.

"Shannen Evans!" called McGonagall.

"Blimey, how many Evan's are there?" complained one student at her table, and she shot the olde boy a glare with her bright green eyes.

"They're my brothers. We're triplets," she corrected him, and that seemed to shut him up.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Shannen..." muttered Sairsha sadly as she watched her other brother join the green-clad students at the table next to hers. He turned around to face her and gave her a little half hug.

"Don't worry, sis. We'll both visit you some time," he said, smiling, and she smiled back and, to his chagrin, kissed his cheek. They could be a pain sometimes, but she loved her brothers.

He blushed to the roots of his shoulder-length black hair and playfully shoved her away, saying, "C'mon, Sairsha, don't."

While they had been talking, the students had continued to be sorted, and very soon, there were no more first years left to sort. McGonagall took the Sorting hat away and the old wizard with the long beard stood and clapped his hands for silence.

"May I have your attention please!" he called. For one so old, his voice was strong and clear. This must be Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster.

"The Forbidden forest is called so for a reason. It is forbidden to all students. Enjoy the stsart of term feast, and good night!" he called, and the moment he sat down, dishes of food and hundreds of flagons of juice appeared magically on the tables in front of them. Sairsha stared.

There were platters of chicken legs, plates full of every kind of meat imaginable, Pumpkin juice, dishes of vegetables, salads, fish, chips, ketchup, sandwhiches, breath mints and toothpiks. Sairsha helped herself to a few slices of what appeared to be some sort of pasta casserole and a goblet of Pumpkin juice, and began eating.

This was the life, really.

"My name's Xeno Lovegood. Like some Turnips? I'm the Head Boy for Ravenclaw," said a blonde boy beside her. Sairsha jumped a bit and declined. She hated turnips.

As soon as severyone had seemed to have eeaten their fill, the food disappeared and the deserts appeared. Dishes of fat puddings, bread puddings, turreens of iced coconut, pineapple, pies of every sort imaginiable, eclairs and scones. Sairsha, already full, simply helped herself to some bread pudding and ate it slowly, looking around the great hall at her brothers and her father. Her family.

She hoped her brothers didn't fall in with the wrong crowds; Shannen had a habit of being gullible, she knew, but she trusted Severus to be smarter than that, and independant.

As soon as the deserts disappeared, Dumbledore stood once more and announced that it was time for bed, and to colect their schedules in the morning, which would be found in their common rooms.

"First years, follow us, please!" called the boy named Xeno (wierd name, she thought) and a girl with long brown hair, and the other Ravenclaws were led out of the great hall and up what appeared to be nothing but stairs.

"Be carefull. The staircases like to change," warned Xeno in an undertone to her as they climbed.

She would remember it. She got lost easily.

They were led to what looked like a blue door with no knob. Just a large golden knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Watch closely," said Xeno, and he used the knocker.

The eagle opened its golden beak and began to talk:

"A box without hinges, key or lid

Yet golden treasures inside are hid"

"These can be tricky, but they're not impossible," he said to them all.

"An egg," he replied to the knocker.

"Correct," said the eagle knocker, and the door opened on invisible hinges and let them pass.

Xeno Lovegood led them into the common room, and Sairsha gasped.

It seemed to be made of nothing but windows, from the ceiling to the floor, with a spectacular view of the mountians and the Black Lake and the grounds. Sairsha saw blue carpeting, fringed in gold, an enormous fireplace, several squashy blue and gold arm chairs, and a few black and gold throw pillows. A spiral staircase led up to the dorms, she assumed.

"Boys, dorms areu pstairs to the left, girls, same on your right," said Xeno, and Sairsha was the first to go up.

The room had several four post beds with deep blue velvet hangings, and Soot sat on her head board, hooting dolefully.

"Soot!" she exclaimed, running to the owl. He nipped her softlly and flew out the dorm and presumably down to the common room and out of the castle.

Her trunk and things were already there, so before anyone else came to bug her, she got changed and climbed into her bed, snuggling into the covers and shutting the hangings around her.

She would never, ever forget tonight.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, what do you think? I wanted to flesh out the kid's characters, so here you are! Next chap is in Snape's POV PLEASE REVIEW!!


	14. Pensive thoughts

Hey, I'm currently trying to work on another story for Monsters Inc, and it's why I've been sort of neglecting my other stories lately, but here it is, finally, Severus Sr's thoughts on his children's sorting.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Severus watched the students leave the Great Hall, older students going first, first years being sheparded by the Head boy or girl. He picked Sairsha's hair out of the crowd. She was walking with her brother, unwilling, it seemed, to let him go to his respective house.

He couldn't believe it. Shannen, in Slytherin. Of course he was proud of the boy, but he was an impressionable child. What would he do if someone convinced him to go over to the Dark side? And Severus, in Gryffindor. Severus didn't often say much, at least around other people, but he had a fighting spirit, he knew. Yet he was so intelligent. Gryffindor. He still couldn't believe it.

And his daughter! In Ravenclaw! He was not surprised at that one, although he was a bit surprised she hadn't gone into Gryffindor with her brother; she had a fighting spirit to rival that of any real lion.

"Congratulations, Severus. You must be so proud," ssaid McGonagall on his left. She was smiling.

"I am, Minerva. You want to be carefull of Severus, though; he can be very protective of his siblings," he warned her, and she nodded.

"I will be attended to," she said sharply, and she swept off the join the strudents in going to bed.

Severus got to his feet, where Shannen had remained behind at the Slytherin table, looking crestfallen and nervous.

"Dad, I don't want to be in Slytherin. Some of the other kids made fun of me and stuff and I'm not like them," he whined; Severus was surprised to see that he was on the verge of nervous tears.

He sat down next to him, dimly remembering that it had been a long time since he had last sat his behind on this bench and put an arm around his son.

"The hat chose you for Slytherin for your brains and your determination, not because you are evil. You can choose your own path; don't let them sway you to their side. Prove them all wrong, that becasue you are in Slytherin, does not mean you are destined for bad," he scolded the boy, but gently.

"So I'm not bad? I don't have to be a Dark wizard?" he asked, looking up at him with Lily's eyes.

Severus pulled the boy into a half hug.

"You don't have to be."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Later that night, he lay awake in his bed thinking about what he had told his son; that because he was chosen for Slytherin didn't mean he had to be a Dark wizard. What he had said was the truth, more or less, but the house of Slytherin had never really had a spoiled reputation until Voldemort himself had left the school. Vaguely, he wondered if, when he had last left Hogwarts, he had put some sort of Dark jinx on the entire house of Slytherin as well as the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

He sighed, deep in thought, and turned towards his window, with its view of the tree by the Black lake. He had spent so much time there with Lily, or by himself, studying, or daydreaming...

He shook himself out of that one right away.

He couldn't sleep.

He got out of bed, Lily still on his mind, and dressed himself, stowing his wand inside his robes.

He threw a cloak on for good measure and headed for Hogsmeade.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Once he got into Hogsmeade, he turned on the spot and Apparated... to Godric's Hollow.

(A/N: Did anyone wish Harry and Hermione had gone into his house if it were still standing in book 7? I did. So here it is)

Snape appeared in a town square of sorts, where there was a statue of James, Lily and the baby Harry Potter. He stared at Lily's face frozen forever in granite for a few moments, before wandering up the deserted street. He found her old house and put a hand on the front gate, simply gazing up at it. The place were the roof had caved in stood out like a sore spot, and Severus felt his eyes wwater; he couldn't remember what their life together had been like before she had inexpertly Obliviated him, but he could imagine.

He opened the gate and headed up to the very same door that the Dark Lord had entered through years ago.

The inside seemed colder than out.

He had walked into a sort of kitchen. Plates and cups still stood on the counters where James or Lily had last left them. There was a toy broomstick in the corner that hovered feebly two inches off the floor and looked as if it wouldn't support so much as a diaper anymore. A dead cat lay next to it, its little body frozen as if sleeping.

He felt odd in this house, as if he could hear and see everything that went on in Lily's last moments, feel the lingering magic from the Dark Lord's precense. It sent unwelcome shivers down his spine. He imagined he could hear her scream, hear James Potter, the boy he had so hated in school, yell to her, warn her, for surely he had. He could hear a baby crying.

He didn't realize he was crying until he felt the wind blow against wet cheeks and he wiped them away.

He went out of the kitchen and into a sort of foyer, where there was a living room to his left, the front door in front of him and a stairwell to his left. He decided on the living room first.

The carpet was littered with animal droppings and dead leeaves that had been blown in from outside. The furniture was covered in sheets, there were cobwebs here and there, and just under a side table, he thought he saw a Jarvey.

"Cocksucker!" it yelled as he shooed it away. It almost made him laugh. But he didn't think he could ever laugh in this house.

He wandered upstairs, and here, he thought he could imagine a thump as James Potter was cut down from behind as he ran to his wife. He shook his head to clear these images and continued upstairs.

There were three bedrooms. One whos door was closed, one that had no door, and one whos door was painted a soft baby blue.

He chose the room with no door first, and he saw the gaping hole that had been left in the ceiling when the Avada curse had backfired. Below it was the blasted remains of a pram, charred blankets still within. There was more dirt, debris and leaves in this room than any other. He sat on the edge of what had probably been her and Jame's bed and stared at the floor. The broekn debris there formed the outline of a woman still, after all these years. He could see his Lily laying broken on this dropping-strewn floor. If she had only stayed with him... she need never have died. But there was a reason, as always, why she had chosen to come back. If she hadn't, there would have been no one to eventaully vanquish the Dark Lord.

He looked on her nightstand and saw a photo of her and he, framed, laying in an open drawer. They were older, and they were happy. For some reason, he was wearing a wedding band, and he knew why she had kept it locked in a drawer. This must be a photo she took back in their alternate reality, where they had been married.

He pocketed it, intending to take it back with him, after all, it was a picture of him.

He left the room and went into the one with the closed door. It was dark, so he muttered, "lumos".

The bed was empty, the covers made, the floor spotless. The whole place had layers of dust everywhere and it smelled like rotted wood. It must be a spare bedroom.

He went next into the room marked by the blue door and saw a combination nursery/study. The nursery half of it was windblown. There was a broken window and he figured out why. Dioapers littered the floor, baby clothes lay hither and thither, a few scatterd toys, covered in dust and dirt lay under the basinet and the changing station.

He wandered over to the desk in the other corner. It was covered in papers and quills, photographs and sketches, car keys and envelopes. He sat in the chair and read through a few of the papers. They were love notes from James to Lily. He shifted through these and saw letters to other people that had never been sent, a lot of them pertaining to the Order of the Phoenix.

He looked through the photographs and saw Lily, over and over again, Lily. Laughing, smiling, frowning, sitting, standing, with James and Harry Potter and without. He stole a few of her alone, and opened the drawers. Here he found that they were all locked, each and every one of them.

"Alohomora," he muttered, and they all flew open with a bang.

He stared; a marriage certificate with his and Lily's names on them, letters from the both of them to each other, more clues to what his life had been like before Lily had Obliviated him. He saw more pictures of his children, pictures of Lily and her friends from school, newspaper clippings, an old set of car keys. They had had a car? He picked them up gingerly, examining them. Just one car key and another marked "house". (A/N: Lily went back to before she died and gathered up some things from their house, lily and severus's and locked them up in her and jame's house)

He pocketed most of these, all except for the news clippings he didn't think worthy of gathering.

He searched on the floor and found a picture of Lily, James, Sirius Black and himself, all smiling and their arms around each other. Lily had made him smile for that one, even though James' arm was around him. He did remember that day. It had been just before the mudblood incident. He pocketed that photo as well.

He left the nursery/study and went into the bathroom, where he found more baby toys and rust stains, cobwebs and burned lightbulbs. There was a hairbrush on the edge of the sink, filled with dark red hair. On instinct, he grabbed it, although he had no idea what for.

This was it. He was finished here. He had been restless, thinking of her, and now he wa sick at the thought of her. Why couldn't he just be happy for once?? He supposed he had been happy with her while they had been married, but dammit, he couldn't remember!

He went back downstairs and exited through the door he had come in by. He Apparated back to Hogsmeade, went back up to the castle, dumped all the things he had gathered from the Potter house, got undressed and went to sleep.

He dreamt of Lily.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I hope you like it, please review!!!!!!


	15. NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Hey, sorry I haven't updated any of my HP stuff lately. I just got a new job, working retail and tis the season (although not ho ho ho). I've also recently been locked out of the computer until someone gets home, because my stepdad is a prick, so there's that as well. I've also been working on my pokemon fic, called "life is wonderful", so you may want to check it out, because Im really on a roll with it. So sorry I haven't showed lately, but meh... I've been busy lately. Ciao!

oh,and chapter 12... it said it had been two years since they were rescues... they were three at that point, so they would be five on chapter 12... so it will be changed to "it had been seven long years since their rescue from the states"... I'd change the chapter itself, but to avoid confusion I'm ading it here. There are also a lot of contadictory sentences in that chapter, such as "they all slept in seperate rooms" and then "they shared one room and she slept in another" Please ignore these!!

NEXT CHAPTER UP VERY VERY SOON!


	16. Pride

I am SO SORRY I haven't been updating at all lately... I actually had to go back and read alll of this over again before I finally decided on another chapter.

Please ignore the mistakes in chapter 12, by the way. The year is 1987, and for the hell of it, Harry is still not 11 yet so he isn't in Hogwarts yet. Slughorn is potions teacher, Snape got promoted to DADA I think. But I was asked to update very politely and so this chapter is dedicated entirely to Keanplay. Thanks for reviewing.

Also know that the timeline for this is all confused in my head... I'm so... confused... so badly... lol

PLEASE REVIEW!!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Her first few days were hectic, learning where all the classrooms in the castle were and what all her teachers were like. Sometimes a ghost would point her in the right direction, other times a Prefect might. She hadn't made any friends so far, mostly on account of her name "Evans". Actually, it was Snape and she might have gotten even more hassle about it. Either way, her last name betrayed her parentage.

She hoped Severus wasn't getting all annoyed at the negativeity people were putting on his appearance. He and Shan did look quite a bit like their father. Only difference was, they all had Lily's eyes, even if they were shaped like his. As far as she knew from pictures of her mother, Sairsha had her eyes exactly, size and color. They were just a bit bigger.

She was on her way to DADA class, taught by her father. He had been promoted since they turned eleven. The Ravenclaws were supposed to be having a double lesson with the Slytherins and she hoped to see Shannen there.

She accidentally walked through the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw house, and dashed into the classroom just as her father was walking out of his office. Their eyes met but he didn;t give her detention for being late. He never did, even though she was almost always late.

The room had all curtains drawn and all manner of slimy things were suspended in liquid, on his desk, on counters around the windows... the portraits depicted some truly grisly things as well, people shrieking in agony, others being twisted like pretzels... this room gave her the creeps.

"Settle down, settle down. Do you all have the homework I assigned you on the affects of the Jelly Legs Jinx?" he said coldly. He was careful not to be too nice to her, so no one would wonder why.

She handed him her completed essay as he swept around the room collecting them and waited for him to announce today's lesson. Over in the corner, she caught her brother's eye. He looked good in his new Slytherin robes. He caught her eye and smiling, flashed her a thumbs up. While their father wasn't looking, Sairsha swapped seats with a Slytherin boy sitting near her brother.

He turned back to face them all and noticed her seat swap. He raised an impertinent eyebrow but said nothing on it. She caught the small smirk on his mouth, though.

"Today's lesson will be on Red Caps and Hinkypunks," he announced coldly. He had been introducing them to the basics of Defense Against The Dark Arts over the last few days, and after their first homework assignment, had decided to start them off on some simple magical creatures.

He of course noticed his daughter's seat switch to be closer to her brother. He also knew there would be a fair ammount of whispering and note passing between them. To prevent this, he gave them a meaningful look and pointed to her original seat.

"Maaaan," whined his daughter under her breath.

"NOW," he said sternly, mostly for appearances.

"Alright, alright, I'm GOing, jeesh..." she muttered again, and she swapped places with the boy from Slytherin once more.

Her father gave them all a reading assignment and sat back down at his desk at the front of the room while they all followed his instructions. Of course, Sairsha finished reading the chapters on Red Caps and Hinkypunks within five or ten minutes. She was a very ast reader, and even better, she could comprehend what she read in so little time. She had clocked herself once when she was a little younger; two full pages in about one minute.

She answered the questions at the end of the chapter, which were up on the blackboard and leaned back in her chair, already bored. These classes needed to be harder.

Only when the bell rang did she jump up and join her brother at their father's desk.

"Dad, why do people keep making fun of us for the name Evans?" she asked.

Severus Snape Sr got to his feet, shuffled some papers on his desk and sighed.

"Your mother, Lily Evans, was a very popular girl here at Hogwarts in our day. Her name was well known, and everyone in this seperate timeline also know she only had ONE child, not three. Harry Potter, your half brother, is not yet old enough to come to school," he explained.

"Harry Potter is our older half brother or younger?" asked Shannen, looking puzzled.

"Hmm... The year right now is 1987... you three were not... ARE not born until next year, 1988. In a matter of your best interest, if anyone asks your birthdate, tell them 1976. Incidentally... the Potter boy is technically your older half brother, even though he is not yet old enough to come to Hogwarts," he explained. (A/N: I just wanted to exclude Potter cause, let's face it, he sucks,)

Finally understanding, Sairsha gave her father a quick hug around the middle and ran out of the classroom towards her next class.

Severus watched her go, followed by her brother, her long red hair flying like flames, Shannen's black hair swaying back and forth, clean and not greasy.

Sometimes he thought that despite their twisted timelines, they had it better than he ever had. It felt good to know he could give them a better childhood than he'd suffered.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Just highlighting the first few days of their school year, and as such, I still have no viable plot for this... maybe Snape brings Lily back to life using the hairs from her brush?? Give me some ideas!!

Dedicated to keanplay cause he/sha can never get enough of this story and I feel kinda bad for not updating. Thanks!


End file.
